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I 



AN 

EXACT HISTORY 

OF THE 

BATTLE OF FLODDON: 

IN VERSE. 

WRITTEN ABOUT THE 

TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 

IN WHICH ARE RELATED 

MANY FACTS NOT TO BE FOUND IN THE 
ENGLISH HISTORY. 

PUBLISHED FROM A CURIOUS MS. IN THE LIBRARY OF 

JOHN ASKEW, ESQ. 

OF PALINSBURN, NORTHUMBERLAND; 

WITH NOTES, 

BY ROBERT LAMBE, 

VICAR OF NORHAM. 

Ti 

A7TCtVT6)V TTOXiUOf 7T#T)Jg. LUC 



NEWCASTLE: 

PRINTED BY AND FOR S.HODGSON; AND SOLD BY E. CHARNLEY 
AND SON, AND THE OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN NEWCASTLE J 
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORMEJ AND CRADOCK AND 
JOY, LONDON. 

1809- 



[ 



THE 

FOLLOWING POEM 

IS INSCRIBED TO 

JOHN ASKEW, ESQ. 

OF PALINSBURN, 

AS A 

TESTIMONY OF GRATITUDE 

FOR 

THE FRIENDSHIP 

WHICH HE HATH SHOWN TO 

THE EDITOR. 



Norham, January 30, 1773. 



THE 



BATTLE OF FLODDON, 

A POEM. 



THE 



BATTLE OF FLODDON. 



PART I. 



FIT I. 

TO A PLEASANT TUNE. 
I. 

-N ow will I cease for to recite 

King Henry's affairs in France so wide, 
And of domestic jars I'll write, 

That in his absence did betide. 

ii. 
A fearful field, in verse, I'll frame, 

If you'll be pleas'd to understand, 
O Floddon-Mount ! thy wonderous name 
Doth sore affright my trembling hand. 



2 THE BATTLE 

III. 

Thou, God of war ! do me admit 

For to discourse, with sounding praise, 

This bloody field, this fearful fight, 
Fought in our old forefathers' days. 

IV. 

Pardon, ye poets all, I cry ! 

My simple, rude, and rugged rhyme ; 
Even though the hill, Parnassus high, 

Presumptuously I press to climb. 

v. 
For what is he, with haughty style, 

Such deeds of honour could contrive \ 
No, not the learned Virgil great, 

If that on earth he was alive. 

VI. 

That could reveal in volume short 

Great Howard's deeds, who did excel ; 

Though lovely print made no report, 
Fame would not fail the same to tell. 

VII. 

Or thou, O Stanley, wonderous man 1 
Thou son of Mars, who can proclaim 

Thy matchless deeds ? Tell me, who can 
Paint thy just praise, on wings of fame f 



OF FLODDON. I 

VIII. 

Thy doleful day-work still shall be 
In Scotland cursed with an outcry : 

For Hector's match this man was he 

Who climbed the mount of Floddon high. 

IX. 

What banners bravely blazed and born, 

What standards stout brought he to ground, 

What worthy Lords by him forlorn, 

That sorrow in Scotland yet doth sound ! 

x. 

Ye heavenly powers, your aid I crave ; 

My slender muse help to awake; 
Grant, this work, which in hand I have, 

A fine and lucky end may make. 

XI. 

Before King Henry crost the seas, 
And e'er to France he did transfleet, 

He thought the Scots might him disease 
With constituted captains meet. 

XII. 

He knew that English Kings they fought, 
And by what might they were controuled ; 

Much more he in their absence thought, 
What damage had been done of old. 



4 THE BATTLE 

XIII. 

And lest that they should work some teen f 
As they thought to have done indeed, 

He left his realm unto his Queen, 
To be ruled as there was need. 

XIV. 

Then for the Earl of Surrey sent 

And Regent of the North him made ; 

And bad him, " If the Scots were bent 
" The Northern borders to invade : 

xv. 

" That he should raise a royal band 
" In Bishoprick, and in Yorkshire ; 

" In Westmoreland and Cumberland, 
" In Cheshire, and in Lancashire." 

XVI. 

" And if thou need Northumberland," 

Quoth he, " there be strong men and stout, 

" That will not stick, if need they stand, 
H To fight on horseback, or on foot. 

XVII. 

" There is the valiant Dacres old, 
u Warden of the West-march is he: 

" There are the bows of Kendal bold, 
" Who fierce will fight, and never flee. 



OF FLODDON. 
XVIII. 

* There is Sir Edward Stanley stout, 
" For martial skill clear without mack, 

u From Latham-house his line came out, 
" Whose blood will never turn their back. 

XIX. 

" All Lancashire will live and die 

" With him, so chiefly w r ill Cheshire : 

" For through his father's force/' quoth he, 
" This kingdom first came to my sire. 

xx. 

" Lord Clifford too, a lusty troop 

" Will there conduct, a captain wise ; 

" And with the lusty knight, Lord Scroop, 
" The power of Richmondshire will rise. 

XXI. 

, " The wardens all look that you warn, 
" To hearken what the Scots forecast ; 

" If they the signs of wars discern, 
" Bid them the beacons fire fast." 

XXII. 

The Earl then with a sorry heart, 

Had drowned his face with trickling tears, 
When from his Prince he did depart, 

And from his royal country peers. 



THE BATTLE 

XXIII. 

" And thou," quoth he, " Almighty God, 
u Let him a death most shameful die, 

" Which is the cause of mine abode, 
" Bereaved of my king's company ." 

XXIV. 

Some thought to the king of Scots that he 
Did wish such sad untimely fate ; 

And some, to the Earl of Derby, 
With whom he had a great debate. 

XXV. 

The Earl did then his tenants all 
In musters fair, and brave elect; 

And on his way, by journeys small, 
To Pomfret-castle did direct. 

XXVI. 

Then did he send Sir William Bulmer, 
And bad him on the borders lie, 

With ordnance, and other geer, 
Each house of fence to fortify. 

XXVII. 

And bad him call the borderers bold, 
And hold with him in readiness ; 

And get him word, with speech he could, 
If that the Scots meant his distress. 



OF FLODDON. 
XXVIII. 

Then caused he watch in every street, 

And posts to run through downs and dales, 

So what was wrought, he knew of it, 
From Carlisle to the coast of Wales. 

XXIX. 

When flying Fame, that monstrous wight, 
With hundred wings was nimbly flown, 

And in the court of Scotland light, 

And all abroad, was blazed and blown, 

XXX. 

Of great King Henry's enterprize 
And how he forced was into France, 

With all his peers in princely wise, 
To bring that land to complaisance. 

XXXI. 

England to over-run with rage, 

The Scots then meant, as was their guise, 
Still as the king was under age, 

Or occupied some otherwise. 

XXXII. 

King James's courage did increase, 
And of his council craved to know, 

If he had better live in peace, 

Or fight against his brother-in-law. 



8 THE BATTLE 

XXXIII. 

" Alas !" said he, " my heart is sore, 
" And care constraineth me to weep, 

" That ever I to England swore, 
" A league or love a day to keep. 

xxxiv. 
" Had I not entered in that band, 

" I swear now by this burnished blade, 
" England and Scotland both one land, 

" And kingdom one I could have made. 

XXXV. 

" That realm we should soon over-run, 
" That England, when this age is past, 

" As to our elders they have done, 
" Should homage do to us at last/' 

XXXVI. 

Then stood there up a baron stout, 
The lusty Lord of Douglas' blood, 

" My liege," quoth he, " have you no doubt, 
" But mark my words, with mirthful mood. 

XXXVII. 

" The league is broke, no doubt you need, 
" Believe me, liege, my words are true. 

" What was the English admiral's deed, 
" When Andrew Barton bold he slew ? 



OF FLODDON. 9 

XXXVIII. 

" Your ships and armour too he took ; 

u And since, their King did nothing fear, 
u To send his aid, against the Duke 

" Of Gelders your own cousin dear. 

XXXIX. 

" Hath not the bastard Heron slain, 
" Your Warden with his spiteful spear ? 

" The league and peace therefore are vain, 
" My liege, you nothing have to fear." 

XL. 

Then manful Maxwell answered soon, 

" My liege, the league is broke by right ; 

" For the English King, ought not to have gone, 
" Against your friend, in France to fight. 

XLI. 

" Have you in league not entered late, 
" With Lewis chosen the French king ? 

" And now, you see, what great debate 
" Betwixt the king and him doth spring, 

XLII. 

" What greater kindness could you shew, 

" Unto your friend the King of France, 

" Than in English blood your blade to imbrue, 

" Against their land to lift your lance ? 
c 



10 THE BATTLE 

XLIII. 

" You know what hurt to you was done, 
" By English kings in times of old ; 

u Your borders burned, and Berwick town, 
" Still by strong hand they from you hold. 

XLIV. 

" Wherefore more time let us not consume, 
" But fiercely fight that land again/' 

And then stood up the proud Lord Hume, 
Of Scotland, the Chief Chamberlain. 

XLV. 

" My liege," quoth he, " in all your life, 
" More lucky fate could never fall ; 

" For now that land, with little grief, 
" Unto your crown you conquer shall. 

XLVI. 

i( For England's king, you understand, 
" To France is past with all his peers ; 

" There is none at home, left in the land, 
" But joult-head monks, and bursten fryers 

XLVII. 

" 'Or ragged rustics, without rules, 

" Or priests prating for pudding-shives, 

" Or millners madder than their mules, 
" Or wanton clerks, waking their wives. 






OF FLODDON. 11 

XLVIII. 

44 There is not a lord left in England, 
" But all are gone beyond the sea ; 

" Both knight and baron with his band, 
" With ordnance, or artillery/' 

XLIX. 

The King then called to Dallamount, 

Which bodword out of France did bring ; 

Quoth he, " the nobles' names pray note, 

" Who are encamped with the English King." 

L. 

" That will I do, my liege," quoth he, 

" As many as I have at heart ; 
a First there is the great Earl of Derby, 

" With one that is called Lord Herbert. 

LI. 

" There is an Earl, of ancient race, 
" Plumed up in proud and rich array, 

" His banner casts a glittering grace, 
" A half-moon in a golden ray." 

L1I. 

u That is the noble Pierey plain," 
The King did say and gave a stamp, 

" There is not such a lord a^ain, 

" No, not in all King Henry's camp." 



12 THE battll: 

LIII. 

" There is a Lord that bold doth bear 

" A Talbot brave, a burly tyke, 
" Whose Fathers struck France so with fear, 

" As made poor wives and children shriek." 

LIV. 

The King then answered at one word, 
" That is the Earl of Shrewsbury." 

" There is likewise a lusty lord, 

" Which called is the famed Darcy. 

LV. 

" There is Dudley and brave Delaware, 
" And Drury, great lords all three ; 

" The Duke of Buckingham is there, 
" Lord Cobham and Lord Willoughby. 

LVI. 

" There is the Earl of Essex gay, 

" And Stafford stout, Earl of Wiltshire \ 

" There is the Earl of Kent, Lord Gray, 
" With haughty Hastings, hot as fire. 

LVII. 

u There is the Marquis of Dorset brave, 

" Fitz- Water and Fitz-Leigh, lords most great ; 

" Of doughty knights, the lusty lave 
" I never could by name repeat. 



OF FLODDON. 13 

LVIIJ. 

" There is a Knight of the North country, 
" Which leads a lusty plump of spears ; 

u I know not what his name should be, 
" A boisterous bull all black he bears/' 

LIX. 

Lord Hume then answered, loud on hight, 
" This same is Sir John Neville bold ; 

H King Harry hath not so hardy a knight, 
" In all his camp, my coat I will hold. 

LX. 

i{ He doth maintain, without all doubt, 
" The Earl of Westmoreland's estate, 

u I know of old his stomach stout ; 
" In England is not left his mate/' 

LXI. 

The King then asked his lords all round, 
" If wars or peace they did prefer ? ,r 

They cried, and made the hall to sound, 
" Let peace go back, and let us have war. 

LXII. 

" Our armour is for usage marred, 
" Both helmet, habergeon, and crest ; 

u Our startling naggs, in stable spared, 
11 Are waxen wild with too much rest. 



14 THE BATTLE 

I 

LXIII. 

" Our staves, that were both tall and streight, 
" Wax crooked, and are cast each where ; 

" Therefore in England let us go fight, 
" Our booties brave from them to bear." 

LXIV. 

The king rejoiced then to see 

His lords so lively hearts to have ; 

And to their words did soon agree, 
Complying to their pleasures brave. 

LXV. 

To Lyon, King at Arms, he cried, 

And took to him a letter broad, 
Quoth he, u no longer look thou bide, 

" But toward France soon take thy road. 

LXVI. 

" To Terwin town take thou thy way, 
" And greet well then my brother-in-law, 

" And bid him there no longer stay, 
" But homeward to his country draw. 

LXVII. 

" And bid him cease his furious force, 
" Against my friend, the king of France, 

" For fear domestick wars prove worse, 
" When in his kingdom 1 advance. 



OF FLODDON. 15 

LXVII1. 

u And summon him soon to return, 
" Lest that our power we ply apace ; 

" With fire and sword, we beat and burn 
" His men and land in little space." 

LXIX. 

Then Lyon made him reverence, 

And with his coat of arms him deckt. 

He haled up sail, and towards France, 
He did his way with speed direct. 



10 THE gATtLE 



FIT II. 

LXX. 

.Meanwhile. the King did letters write, 
Which swiftest post did nimbly bear, 

To all his lords which had delight, 
With him in England arms to wear. 

LXXI. 

Then every lord, and knight each where, 
And barons bold in musters met ; 

Each man had haste, to mend his gear, 
And some their rusty pikes did whet. 

LXXII. 

Some made a mell of massy lead, 
Which iron all about did bind ; 

Some made strong helmets for the head, 
And some their grisly gisarings grind. 

LXXIII. 

Some made their battle-axes bright ; 

Some from their bills did rub the rust ; 
Some made long pikes and lances light ; 

Some pikeforks for to join and thrust. 



OF FLODDON. 17 

LXXIV. 

Some did a spear for weapon Wield ; 

Some did their lusty geldings try ; 
Some all with gold did gild their shield ; 

Some did with divers colours dye. 

LXXV. 

The ploughmen hard their teams could take, 
And to hard harness them convert, 

Their shares defensive armour make, 
To save the head, and shield the heart. 

LXXVl. 

Dame Ceres did unserved remain, 

The fertile fields did lie untilled ; 
Outrageous Mars so sore did reign, 

That Scotland was with fury filled. 

LXXVII. 

The king of Scots was much inflamed 

With joy to see himself obeyed, 
And did command his chamberlain, 

In England all this gang to lead. 

LXXVIII. 

The Chamberlain Lord Hume in haste, 

March-Warden over east also, 
Within the English border's breast 

With full eight thousand men did go. 

D 



18 THE BATTLE 

LXXIX. 

And enter in Northumberland, 

With banners bravely blazed and born, 

And finding none them to withstand 

They straight destroyed both hay and corn, 

LXXX. 

They spoiled and ravaged all abroad, 
And on each side, in, booties brought, 

The coarser loons got geldings good, 
And droves of kine and cattle caught. 

LXXXI. 

Most stately halls and buildings gay, 
With sacrilegious hands they burn ; 

And this has always been their way, 
Whenever they could serve their turn. 

LXXXII. 

But happy Harwood-church on the hill, 
Thou always 'scaped their barbarous rage ; 

As thou wert once, so art thou still, 
The wonder of the present age. 

LXXXIII. 

There Judge Gascoigne, once wisely grave, 
With his fair dame entombed doth lie ; 

And there lies Rudimond so brave, 
In armour, by his family. 



OF FLODDON, 19 

LXXXIV. 

With other noble persons too, 

For valour famed, and piety ; 
Their monuments you now may view, 

Most sweet and lovely to the eye. 

LXXXV. 

But to return, for I have digrest. 

The Scots thus having over-run 
The bordering parts, and filled with prey, 

They thought to Scotland to return, 

LXXXVI. 

Sir William Buhner being told 
Of this great road and wild array, 

Did strait forecast, all means he could, 
The Scots in their return to stay. 

LXXXVII. 

Two hundred men himself did lead, 
To him there came the borderers stout, 

And divers gentlemen with speed, 
Repaired to him with horse and foot. 

LXXXVIII. 

They were not all a thousand men, 

But knowing where the Scots would come, 

The borderers best their coast did ken, 
And hid them in a field of broom. 



20 THE BATTLE 

LXXXIX. 

The Scots came scouring down so fast, 
And proudly pricked up with their prey ; 

Thinking their perils all were past, 
They straggling ran out of their way. 

xc. 

The English men burst out a pace, 
And skirmished with the Scots anon ; 

There was fierce fighting, face to face, 
And many geldings made to groan. 

xci. 
There men might see spears fly in spells, 

And tall men tumbling on the soil, 
And many a horse turned up his heels ; 

Outrageous Mars kept such a coil. 

xcn. 
The Scots their strength did long extend ; 

And broken ranks did still renew ; 
But the English archers, in the end, 

With arrows shot : most sore they flew. 

XCIII. 

The English spears, on the other side, 
Amongst the Scots did fiercely fling, 

And through their ranks did rattling ride, 

And chased them through moss, mire, and ling. 



OF FLODDON. 21 

XCIV. 

The chamberlain, viewing this chance, 
And seeing his host all put to flight, 

Did with the foremost forth advance : 
But happy in his horse so light. 

xcv. 

Straightway he flew, when he perceived 
His banner-bearer down was beat : 

The English then their spoil received, 
Besides a store of geldings great. 

XCVI. 

Six hundred Scots were slain that day, 
And near that number prisoners ta'en, 

But of the English, brave and gay, 
There were no more than sixty slain. 

xcvu. 
In August month this broil befell, 

Wherein the Scots lost so much blood, 
That mournful when the tale they tell, 

They call it now, " The Devil's Road/' 

XCVIII. 

Thus while the Scots, both near and far, 
Were through all Scotland occupied, 

In framing weapons, fit for war, 
And mustering men on every side, 



22 THE BATTLE 

XCIX. 

By this time came the herald sent, 
Before the town of Tervvin high ; 

There to King Henry soon he went, 
And bowing low upon his knee, 

c. 

He reverently the King did greet ; 

Who took from him his letters large $ 
And then, as ordered, what was writ, 

In open words he didjflischarge, 

ci. 
The letters soon were looked upon, 

And in King Henry's sight perused ; 
King James's mind he knew full soon, 

And found himself more sore abused. 

en. 
Who summoned him his seige to raise, 

And stay those wars he took in hand ; 
Or else with blood he would pave his ways, 

And straight invade his native land. 

cm. 
King Henry's heart began to rise, 

And to the herald he did say, 
" Thy master thus I did surmise, 

" Would in our absence partly play. 



OF FLODDON. 23 

CIV. 

" Indeed he doth not now digress 
" From his old sires, never brave ; 

" But if he do my land distress, 

" I hope he welcome hard shall have. 

cv. 
" For in my land I left a lord, 

" Who aiding of my royal Queen, 
" Will stay your Prince at point of sword ; 

" His blade was ever fierce and keen* 

cvi. 
u Let him not deem so destitute 

" My land of lords and valiant knights ; 
" For if he dare to prosecute, 

" He there shall find some warlike wights. 

cvn. 
" Who will shed for me their purple gore, 

" And all his streaming standards rent : 
" They will send upon him many a shower 

" Of arrows, ere he pass the Trent. 

cvin. 
" Since perjured he now doth prove, 

" And doth so small esteem his oath ; 
" Our siege we will not cease to move, 

" Be he so never mad or wroth. 



24 THE BATTLE 

CIX. 

" And here a valiant vow we will make, 
" At what time as we shall return, 

" All Scotland we will harrass and sacky- 
" And never cease to spoil and burn. 

ex. 

" Nor ever peace with him contrive, 
" Nor ever league nor union make, 

" AVhile one false Scot is left alive, 

" And till the land be brought to wrack." 

cxi. 
Then he to the King of Scots did write 

A letter, banishing all fears, 
That he, for all his ire and spight, 

In France would still proceed his wars, 

cxii. 
Then gave it to the herald's hand, 

Besides, with it, a rich reward ; 
Who hastened to his native land, 

To see how with his King had fared. 

cxin. 
And while he waited for the wind, 

And for his ships did things ordain r 
For all his haste he came behind, 

And never saw his Prince again. 



OF FLODDON. 25 

CXIV. 

King Henry then the Scottish bill 

Unto the Earl of Surrey sent, 
To Pornfret, where abiding still, 

He bid him be for battle bent. 

cxv. 

The Earl did all things straight provide, 
The Scotch King's purpose to resist, 

Throughout all Scotland far and wide, 
And all was done that he did list. 

cxvi. 
Lord Dacres also did perceive, 

The Scots' intention manifest ; 
He knew their meetings, musters brave, 

And daily riding, without rest. 

cxvu. 
The truth whereof he sent straitway, 

And told the Earl of Surrey 9age ; 
That time was not for to delay, 

But soldiers raise for to engage. 

cXvm. 
Which when the Earl did understand, 

He letters sent both far and near, 
To all the nobles in the land, 

That they their forces might prepare. 



26 THE BATTLE 

cxix. 
And tell what numbers they could make, 

Of valiant men, all well arrayed ; 
Then with Sir Philip Tilney spake, 

How they their wages might be paid. 

cxx. 

He, after this, for ordnance sent 
Unto Sir Nicholas Appleyard ; 

Who did accordingly consent, 
And towards him apace prepared. 

CXX1. 

With culverines, and portals great, 
And double cannons two or three ; 

Which he brought on by steed and cart, 
To Durham in the North country. 

cxxn. 
The noble Earl then letters wrote, 

Unto each castle, fort, and hold, 
That they should furnish them with shot, 

And fortify their bulwarks bold. 

CXXIIl. 

Who answered all, with stomachs stout, 
And every captain with his train, 

That they would keep the Scots quite out, 
Until the King, returned again. 



OF FLODDON. 
CXXIV. 

Which answer of the captains keen 
The noble Earl did much delight; 

But what the Scots this while did mean, 
And of King James I mean to write. 

cxxv. 

After he to his brother-in-law, 
Defiance into France had sent, 

His nobles all to him did draw, 
Well busked, and for battle bent. 

cxxvi. 
And thus arrayed in armour bright, 

They met in Edinborough town ; 
There was many a lord and many a knight, 

And baron brave, of high renown. 

CXXVII. 

Of prelates proud, a populous lave, 
And abbots boldly there were known- 

With Bishop of St. Andrew's brave, 
Who was King James's bastard son. 

CXXVIII. 

Surely it was an unseemly sight, 

And quite against our Christian laws, 

To see a prelate press to fight, 
And that too in a wicked cause. 



28 THE BATTLE 

CXXIX. 

Were these the Scots' religious rules, 

Who taught the priests such pranks perverse, 

To march forth mustered on their mules, 
And soldier-like to sue God Mars ? 

cxxx. 

The messenger of Christ, St. Paul, 

Taught them to shoot at no such mark, 

Peter, and Christ's apostles all, 
Did never lead them in the dark. 

cxxxi. 
Their Patron so did not them learn, 

St. Andrew, with his shored cross, 
But rather Trimon of Quhytehorn, 

Or, Doffin, demi-god of Ross. 

cxxxn. 
This Bishop bold, this bastard blest, 

With other bishops in his band, 
And abbots bold, as all the rest, 

For beagle-rods, took bills in hand. 

pxxxiii. 
And every lord with him did lead 

A mighty band for battle prest ; 
lumbers so great, they did extend 

To a hundred thousand men at least. 



OF FLODDON. 29 

CXXXIV. 

King James for joy began to smile, 

So great an army to behold ; 
Who for to serve him, thought no toil, 

But blazoned forth his banners bold, 

cxxxv. 
Each Lord went on then with his band, 

And every captain with his train, 
The music echoed through the land, 

And brazen trumpets blowed amain. 

cxxxvi. 
The drums did beat, with warlike sound, 

And banners bravely waved wide. 
Men scarce could view the fruitful ground, 

For soldiers armed on every side. 

cxxxvu. 
In midst of ranks, there rode the king, 

On stately steed, which graceful stampt ; 
A goodly sight to see him fling, 

And how his foaming bits he champt. 

cxxxvni. 
Thus did King James most gorgeous ride, 

A pleasure to his noble peers ; 
He had a heart puft up with pride, 

And w$s a prince that banished fears. 



SO THE BATTLE 

CXXXIX. ' 

Alas ! he thought himself too strong, 
Having so great a multitude : 

But Providence, when kings do wrong, 
Their mighty power can elude. 

CXL. 

He thought no king in Christendom, 
In field to meet him was of might ; 

No, nor an Emperor of Rome 

Had been of force with him to fight. 

CXLI. 

Nor Hercules, nor Hannibal, 

The Soldan, Sophy, nor the Turk ; 

None of the mighty monarchs all ; 
Such valiant blood did in him work. 

CXLII. 

But yet for all his armed host, 

His pufFed-up pride, and haughty heart, 
Full soon abated was his ghost; 

He was brought to London in a cart. 

CXLIII. 

It was in the midst of harvest-tide, 
August the two and twentieth day; 

That this great Prince, replete with pride^ 
To the English borders burst his way. 



OF FLODDON. 
CXLIV. 

Where piles he pulled down apace, 

And stately buildings brought to ground, 

The Scots, like loons, void of all grace, 
Religion's precepts sore did wound. 

CXLV. 

Fair matrons they did force each where, 
And ravished maidens sweet and mild ; 

In flames the houses made appear, 
And murdered many a man and child, 

CXLVI. 

But how the English did prepare, 

To fight the Scots, w r ith hand and heart, 

Their valour also will appear, 
If you will read the Second Part. 



THE BATTLE OF FLODDON. 



PART II. 



FIT III. 



CXLVII. 

It was the King's express command, 
To waste with cruel sword and flame, 

A field of blood he made the land, 
Till he to Norham Castle came. 

CXLVIII. 

Which soon with siege he did beset, 
And trenches digged without delay; 

With bombard-shot, the walls he beat, 
And to assault it did essay. 

CXL1X. 

The captain great, with courage stout. 
His fortress fiercely did defend ; 

But for a while he lashed out, 
Till he his ordnance did spend. 



34 THE BATTLE 

CL. 

His powder he did profusely waste, 
His arrows he haled out every hour; 

So that he wanted at the last, 

And at the last had none to pour. 

€LI. 

But yet five days he did defend, 

Though with assaults they him assailed. 

Though all their strength they did extend ; 
Yet all their power had not prevailed, 

CLII. 

Had there not been a traiterous thief, 
Who came King James's face before, 

That in that hold had got relief^ 
The space of thirty years and more. 



a 



CLIII. 

I say," quoth he, " King James, my liege, 
" Your brave assaults are all in vain, 
" Long may you hold a tedious siege, 
" Yet all this while can get no gain. 

CLIV, 

" But what reward shall I receive," 
Quoth he, " express, and speak anon, 

" And I will let you plain perceive, 
" How that this castle may be won * 



OF FLODDON. 
CLV. 

" If that to pass you bring this can," 
The King did say, where he did stand, 

u I shall make you a gentleman, 

" And livings give thee in our land." 

CLVI. 

u O king," quoth he, " now quit this place, 
" And down to yonder vallies draw, 

" The walls then shall you rend and raze, 
" Your batteries will bring them low." - 

CLVII. 

Which, as he said, so did the King, 

And against the walls his ordnance bent ; 

It was a wretched dismal thing, 

To see how soon the walls were rent. 

CLVIII. 

Which made the captain sore afraid, 
Beholding the walls, how they reeled, 

His weapons all them down he laid, 
And to King James did humbly yield. 

CLIX. 

The Scots straitway did pour in, 
And plied apace unto their prey : 

Look what was worth one point or pin, 
You need not bid them take away, 



36 THE BATTLE 

CLX. 

So when the Scots the walls had won, 

And rifled every nook and place, 
The traitor came to the King anon, 

But for reward met with disgrace. 

CLXI. 

The King then asked him by and by, 

" Where he was born and in what town i n 

" A Scot I am," he did reply, 

This answer gave the treacherous loon. 

CLXII. 

The King then asked him, meek and mild, 
" For how long time he lodged there ?" 

" Even," quoth he, " since but a child, 
" A good deal more than thirty year." 

CLXIII. 

" Why," quoth the King, " hast thou so w r roughfe 
" Unto thy friends this frantic rage, 

" Who in this castle thee up brought, 
" And always gave thee meat and wage r 

CLXIV. 

" But since thy heart is falsified 

" To them who gave thee meat and fee, 

4i It is a token to be tried, 

" Thou never canst prove true to me. 



OF FLODDON. 37 

CLXV. 

" Therefore, for this thy traiterous trick, 

" Thou shalt be tied in a trice ; 
* Hangman, therefore," quoth he, " be quick ; 

" The groom shall have no better place." 

CLXVI. 

What he did say, forthwith was wrought, 

The traitor had his just desert, 
Although the king himself was naught, 

And proved deceitful in the heart. 

clxvii. 
By this time came the flying posts, 

Which made the Earl to understand 
How that the King of Scotland's hosts, 

Already entered had the land. 

CLXVIII. 

Which when the Earl of Surrey knew, 

It was but vain to bid him haste : 
He sent to all his friends most true, 

That they their men should muster fast. 

CLXIX. 

And shortly sent to every shire, 

That on September the first day, 
Each gentleman, lord, knight, and squire, 

Should to Newcastle take their way. 



33 THE BATTLE 

CLXX. 

Then with five hundred soldiers stout, 
Himself appearing in renown, 

He never stayed to rest his foot, 
Until he came to Durham town. 

CLXXI. 

There he devoutly did hear prayers, 
And worshipped God his Maker dear, 

Who banished from him cares and fears, 
St. Cuthbert's banner he did bear. 

CLXXII. 

Then straight he to Newcastle came, 
Of August, on the thirtieth day, 

There .many a nobleman of fame, 
To him repaired without delay. 

CLXXIII. 

There valiant Dacres him did meet, 
And brought with him a noble band, 

Of warlike men, right well compleat, 
From Westmoreland and Cumberland. 

CLXXIV. 

Sir Marmaduke Constable stout, 
Attended with his lovely sons ; 

Sir William Buhner, with his rout, 
Lord Clifford, with his clapping guns. 



OF FLODDON. 89 

CLXXV. 

Then from Newcastle soon he went, 
And took his w r ay to Alnwick town. 

That weary men, with travel spent, 

And weather-beaten, might have room. 

CLXXVI. 

Then might you see on every side 
The ways all filled with men of war, 

With shining streamers, waving wide, 
And helmets glittering from afar. 

CLXXVII. 

From Lancashire and Cheshire too, 

To Stanley came a noble train, 
To Hornby, from whence he withdrew, 

And forward set with all his main. 

CLXXVIII. 

What banners brave before him blazed, 
The people mused where he did pass : 

Poor husbandmen were much amazed ; 
And women, wondering, cried, Alas ! 

CLXXIX* 

Young wives did weep with woeful chear, 
To see their friends in harness drest, 

Some rent their cloaths, some tore their hair. 
Some held their babes upon their breast* 



40 THE BATTLE 

CLXXX. 

But who can plain express with pen, 

What prayers were said on hallowed stone, 

What tears came from religious men, 
What sacred service too was done ? 

CLXXXI. 

That Stanley might come safe away, 

And victor valiantly return : 
The bells did sound both night and day, 

And holy fires bright did burn. 

CLXXX1I. 

Men with grey beards, drew to their beds, 
And fast their prayers poured out. 

Old wives for woe did wag their heads, 
And saints were sought on naked foot* 

CLXXXI1I. 

But Stanley over Stainmore strait 
Did pass ; and resting there, did view 

A banner brave, born up on hight, 
Where underwent a warlike crew. 

CLXXXIV. 

" What lusty troop is yon I see ?" 
Sir Edward Stanley did enquire. 

A yeoman said, " It is, I see, 

" Bryan Tunstal, that bold esquire. 



OF FLODDON. 41 

CLXXXV. 

" For in his banner I behold 

" A curling cock, as though he would crow; 
" He brings with him his tenants bold, 

" A hundred men at least I know." 

CLXXXVI. 

Then Stanley said, as there he stood, 

" Would Christ he would but take our part, 

" His clean and undefiled blood, 

" Good speed doth promise at my heart. 

CLXXXVII. 

" Blaze out therefore, I bid you soon, 
" The Earl of Darby's banner brave ; 

" By chance with us he will be one,- 
" When it in sight he shall perceive." 

CLXXXVIII. 

But Tunstall took no heed that tide, 

Without saluting forth he past ;« 
Upon the valiant Howard's side, 

His faithful heart he fixed fast. 

CLXXXIX. 

And then again, said Stanley brave, 
" O valiant lads, draw up your heart ; 

" Be not amazed, look not so grave, 

" Though Tunstall will not take our part. 

G 



42 THE BATTLE 

t CXC. 

" But forward set without delay, 

" Unto the Howards let us make haste." 

Thus they, though wearied, kept their way, 
Till they to Alnwick came at last. 

cxci. 
Whose coming greatly did rejoice 

The Earl and all his company. 
None but the eagle bear the voice, 

With wrapping wings as he would fly. 

cxcn. 
There did the army much increase, 

Although there were the most extreams ; 
For rain down rattling never did cease, 

Till bubbling brooks burst mighty streams* 

cxcin. 
Such blustering winds besides there were, 

That day and night the air did sound ; 
Which put the Earl into great fear, 

Lest his son the Admiral should be drowned. 

cxciv. 
Who, at his parting, promised plight 

Unto his father, if alive, 
At Newcastle, with all his might, 

For his assistance, to arrive. 



OF FLODDON. 43 

CXCV. 

Which promise he did fully keep : 

Such friendship Neptune did him show, 

As to conduct him over the deep, 
And his desires just bestow. 

cxcvi. 

Then soldiers soon he set on land, 

And to his father fast he hied ; 
Such warlike wights in worthy band, 

Two thousand men in arms well tried. 

cxcvii. 

With captains most courageous keen, 

At Alnwick they arrived at last : 
Whom, when the Earl's army had seen, 

With sudden fear they were aghast. 

cxcvin. 
But seeing their armour black as ink, 

Some said it was some Scottish band ; 
And divers did esteem and think, 

They were some force from foreign land. 

cxcix. 
Some took their harness, some their horse, 

And forward hasted as to fight, 
But when they saw St. George's cross, 

And English arms born up on hight, 



44 THE BATTLE 

CC. 

Some said, it was a jolly crew, 

The king had sent from Fiance that tide. 
The southern men, the truth soon knew, 

And loud, " Lord Admiral ! they cried." 

cci. 
Whom, when the Earl of Surrey saw, 

He thanked God with heart so mild, 
And hands for joy to Heaven did throw, 

That his son was saved from waters wild. 

ecu. 
A merry meeting there was seen, 

For first they kist, and then embraced; 
For joy the tears fell from their eyhe, 

All forepast fears were then defaced. 

ccni. 
Then caused the Earl each captain count, 

Under their wings what soldiers were ; 
Which done, the number did but mount, 

To six and twenty thousand there. 

cciv. 
The Earl then called a council soon, 

Of prudent lords and captains wise, 
And how the battle might be done ; 

He bid them shew their best devise. 



OF FLODDON. 45 

€CV. 

Some said too small their number was, 
To atchieve so great an enterprize, 

Some counselled posts back for to pass 
For aid, and cause the countries rise. 

ccvi. 
And from the South, the queen, some said, 
A band of soldiers soon would send ; 
And willed to stay, for while they staid, 
Their powers daily might amend. 

ccvu. 
Some said the Scots strait way would fly, 

And powers daily would diminish ; 
Wherefore to stay was their counsel, 

And thus the Earl they did admonish. 

ccvin. 
Then did the Admiral start in ire, 

And stamping stood with stomach hot : 
u Why, Sir," said he, unto his sire; 

" Hath cowardice lent you his coat ? 

CCIX» 

u Let never King Henry hear for shame 
" That you should act this dastard part j 

" Nor ever blown by trump of fame, 
" That you did bear a coward's heart. 



46 THE BATTLE 

CCX. 

" Hath not King Henry left you here 

" His governour to rule the land; 
" Not doubting but, without all fear, 

" The treacherous Scots you would withstand. 

ccxi. 
u Think of your father, though his chance 

" It was to fall at Bosworth field, 
a Though he his life, by Stanley's lance, 

" With honourable wounds did yield. 

ccxii. 
" Would God that Edward, brother dear, 

" Were here alive this present day : 
" No armed foes, could make him fear, 

" Nor in a camp, like coward stay. 

ccxin. 
" What royal fame, what high renown, 

" Hath he left to his line and race, 
" What ample glory would him crown, 

" If life had lasted longer space ! 

CCXIV. 

u The seas he did both sweep and scour, 
" Not pyrate durst appear in sight, 

" Even Pyrate John, for all his power, 
" That great renowned Lothian knight. 



OF FLODDON. 47 

CCXV. 

" How oft the royal fleet of France, 

" In conflicts fierce by him was grieved ? 

" If he had 'scaped that fatal chance, 

" He glorious acts might have atchieved. 

CCXVL 

" No multitudes made him dismayed, 

" Nor numbers great his stomach swage: 

" Great shame then would on us be laid, 
" And to our offspring in each age. 

ccxvu. 
" Your father's fame would soon be lost, 

" And all his worthy acts no more, 
" Your honour, flitting like a ghost, 

" Nor yet your sons could ever restore, 

CCXVIII. 

" If here ye loitering lie like loons, 
" And do not fight the Scots again: 

" For do not you hear how English towns 
" Are burnt, while suckling bathes are slain I 

ccxix. 
" They daily pilfer every place, 

" And spoil the people all about : 
" Wherefore let us stay no longer space, 

" But now step forth with stomachs stout." 



48 THE BATTLE 



FIT IV. 



ccxx. 

The Earl of Surrey then replied, 

And to his warlike son did say, 
u No bashfulness doth make me bide, 

" Nor stomach faint doth make me stay, 

CCXXL 

" The cause is for no cowardice, 
" So long time here to make delay : 

" But yet I fear this enterprize 

" Will prove no childish sport or play* . 

ccxxn. 
" Great counsel then must be embraced ; 

" Then let us careful think upon, 
" Which way our cards to count and cast,. 

" For great is the business to be done. 

CCXXIII. 

u Too hardy oft good hap doth hazard, 

" And over-bold oft is not best ; 
" And that I have proved by my son Edward, 

" Who ever was too bold of breast. 



OF FLODDON. 49 

CCXXIV. 

" He had been a living man this day, 
" If he with counsel wise had wrought; 

" But he w r as drowned in Bathrumb's bay, 
" His rashness to this end him brought. 

ccxxv. 

" My father, at King Richard's field, 
a Under great Stanley's lance lay slain ; 

u And I did there a captive yield ;- 

" Our manhood great got us this gain. 

ccxxvi. 
u We might have 'scaped that scurvy day, 

" If warning could our wits have beat ; 
" A friend of our's, to cause us stay ; 

" Upon my father's gate had set 

ccxxvu. 
a A certain scroll, whose scripture said, 

" ' Jocky of Norfolk, be not so bold/ 
a And underneath in verse was laid, 

" t For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.' 

CCXXVIII. 

" My father fighting fierce was slain, 

" King Richard lost both life and crown, 

" Some goodly guerdon oft they gain, 
" Who rashly run to get renown. 

H 



50 THE BATTLE 

CCXXIX. 

" For see the Duke of York was brought, 

" At Wakefield to his fatal fall; 
" Who might have "scaped, if he had wrought 

" The counsel wise of David Hall. 

ccxxx* 

" I read of conquerors and kings 
" For lack of counsel cast away : 

" Now since at hand such danger springs, 
H Our council we had need to say. 

ccxxxi, 
" It is not I am fright with fear, 

" Nor for myself such thoughts I take, 
" But for young babes, and infants dear, 

u Which fathers sore I fear will lack. 

CCXXX1I. 

" Such fortunes fall, through fights doubtless, 
" Poor widows plenty shall be left ; 

u And many a servant masterless, 
" And mothers of their sons bereft. 

CCXXXIIl. 

" This is the cause I counsel crave, 
" The only cause I cast such doubts : 

" I had rather on€ English soldier save, 
" Than for to kill a thousand Scots, 



OF FLODDON. 51 

CCXXXIV. 

" I can no kind of compass cast, 

" But many a life there must be lost ; 

" And many a tall man death must taste, 
" The Scots are such a mighty host. 

ccxxxy. 
a The Prince himself is there present, 

" With all his peers prepared for war ; 
a With barons, knights, and commons bent, 

" A hundred thousand men they are. 

ccxxxvi. 
" Put case our total English power 

" Were readj' drest and made in meat ; 
u At two meals they would us devour, 

" The Scottish army is so great. 

ccxxxvu. 
u Therefore let each man's mind be exprest, 

" How that the Scots we may convince, 
" And how to pass this peril best, 

" And save the honour of our Prince." 

ccxxxvin. 
Then spake Sir Edward Stanley stout, 

And fierce on the Earl he fixt his eyne, 
" What need have we thus for to doubt, 

" And be afraid of foes unseen \ 



52 THE BATTLE 

CCXXXIX. 

" Shall we by loitering on this manner, 
" Thus still permit the Scots to rest? 

" Fye, let them see an English banner, 
" And view our soldiers seemly drest. 

CCXL. 

u What though our foes be five to one, 
" For that let not our stomachs fail. 

" God gives the stroke, when all is done, 
" If it please him we shall prevail. 

CCXLI. 

" If ancient books we do peruse, 
" Set forth by famous clerks of old, 

" Which both of Christians, Pagans, Jews, 
" Do plain describe the battles bold. 

CCXLII. 

u There may we certain see in sight, 
" Many a mighty prince and king, 

" With populous armies put to flight, 
a And vanquished by a little wing. 

CCXLIII. 

u AVith hundreds three, Judge Gideon, 
" The Midian host overcame in fight, 

H And Jonathan, Saul's valiant son, 
" The fierce Philistines put to flight. 



OF FLODDON. 53 

CCXLIV. 

• So Judas Maccabeus, the man, 

" Of foremost fame among all knights, 
" Who can describe what fields he wan, 
" With handfuls small of warlike wights ? 

CCXLV. 

u The mighty Macedonian Prince, 
" With puissance small and power, 

" King Darius' host did all convince, 
" Who were for one in number four. 

CCXLVI. 

u The great renowned Roman peers, 

" Whose glorious praise can never blin ; 

" The fame, that daily fills men's ears, 
" By numbers great did never win. 

CCXLVII. 

* For Titus Livy doth protest, 

" The less their power, the more their gain. 
" When they were most, they wan the least ; 
" The greater press, the more were slain. 

CCXLVIII. 

" Example at Cannae's fierce conflict, 
" So many nobles there were slain, 

" That bushels three they did collect 

" Of rings from dead men's fingers drawn. 



54< THE BATTLE 

CCXLIX. 

" Where Scipio, with numbers small, 
" Of warlike wights of Justy blood, 

" In field to flight put Hannibal, 

" And burnt with fire Carthage proud. 

CCL. 

" What further need I for to seek, 

" Of Christian Kings the manful acts ; 

" Since records of the same still speak, 
" Of Henry, and his famous facts. 

CCLI. 

" All Europe yet afresh doth sound, 

" Of his high prowess the report. 
" What standards stout he brought to ground 

" With numbers small at Agincourt. 

CCLII. 

" All France yet trembleth to hear talk, 
" By death what nobles took their flight, 

" Two thousand, beside vulgar folk, 

" Simplest of whom was squire or knight. 

CCLIII. 

u He never stint from war and strife, 

" Till the heir of France he was proclaimed ; 

" If fate had lent him longer life, 

" With English laws all France he had framd. 



OF FLODDON. 55 

CCLIV. 

" Of Bedford too, his brother John, 

" The Dauphin beat with a small band ; 

" Lord Talbot, with his name alone, 

" To tremble forced all the French land. 

CCLV. 

" The Earl of Richmond, with small power, 
" Of England, wan both realm and crown, 

" At Bosworth, where the bragging Boar, 
" And all his host were overthrown. 

CCLVI. 

" So though the Scottish host be great, 
" Let us not stint, but them withstand ; 

" In battle bold we shall them beat, 
" For God will help us with his hand. 

CCLVII. 

" But if in fighting we are slain r 

" And in the battle brought to ground, 

" Perpetual praise we then shall gain, 
" Men will our fame for ages sound. 

CCLVIII. 

" The memory of our great manhood, 
" 'Mongst English men will ever last ; 

" And then, for vengeance of our blood, 

" King Henry home from France will haste. 



of) THE BATTLE 

CCLIX. 

u Our kinsfolks and our cousins free, 

" Will wreak our deaths with doleful dint; 

" Till time that they revenged be, 

i€ From sturdy strokes they will not stint. 

CCLX. 

" Our ghosts shall go to God on high, 
" Though bodies vile to death be dight ; 

" In better case we cannot die, 

" Than fighting for our country's right* 

CCLXI. 

" Put case the lot light contrary, 
" As firm by faith is fixed it shall, 

" And that to gain the victory, 

" Good fortune on our side shall fall. 

CCLXII. 

" And then to give our foes the foil, 
" What worthy praises shall we win F 

" What mighty prey, what plenteous spoil,. 
" What prisoners of princely kin ? 

CCLXIII. 

u The Prince is there himself, King James, 
" With prelates passing rich in pride ; 

" Fifty great lords there are of name, 

" With barons, knights, and squires beside. 



OI FLODDON, ,57 

CCLXIV. 

u Their tents, if standing they be found, 
" When fight is done, I do not fear, 

" But for their entering English ground, 
" The charges shall pay us full dear. 

CCLXV. 

M Such fate shall fall to them I trust 

" As to their elders has before, 
" Who dared into our borders burst, 

" When they were beat in battle sore. 

CCLXVI. 

" Their mighty Mars, King Malcomy, 

" Did valiantly this land invade ; 
" At Tinmouth he was forced to fly, 

" And slain was by an English blade. 

CCLXVII. 

" King David unto Durham came, 

" Who with the Scots in pitched field, 

" For all their pride yet left the game, 
" King David there did captive yield. 

CCLXVIII. 

" What shall I further mention make 
" Of Henry the Fourth, how in his days, 

" The Earl of Murray and Lord Murdake, 
" Angus and Douglass pricked with praise, 



58 ' THE BATTLE 

CCLXIX. 

" Did enter in Northumberland 
" And murdered without mercy. 

" Were they not beat by a small band, 
" In battle by Sir Henry Piercy ? 

CCLXX. 

" The story saith, who list may look, 
" Ten thousand Scots in field were slain, 

" And through the valiant Piercy's stroke, 
" All the Earls captives did remain. 

CCLXXI. 

" Such luck, I trust, to our foes will light, 
" And all that wars do raise in wrong ; 

" Wherefore against them let us fight, 
" It is a shame we loiter here so long. 

CCLXXII. 

" If any seem abased to be, 

" That we in battle shall be beat, 

" Cheshire and Lancashire with me, 
" Shall give the Scots the first onset * 

CCLXXIII. 

When this was said, then Stanley stout, 
All silent down did sit in place; 

The eyes of all the lords about, 
Were fixed upon his valiant face. 



OF FLODDON. 59 

CCLXXIV. 

His wisdom great all wondered at, 

All did his manful proffer praise; 
All they that would have lingered late, 

Their courage keen did now upraise. 

CCLXXV. 

Now they that lately would have staid, 

With foremost cryed, " Forth to the field ! " 

With one voice all the Earl they prayed, 
" That Stanley might the vanguard wield." 

CCLXXVI. 

But on that side the Earl of Surrey 
Was deaf, for why, he could not hear ; 

For being moved with Stanley's glory, 
His rancour old then did appear. 

CCLXXVII. 

Quoth he, " The king's place I supply, 
" At pleasure mine each thing shall bide." 

Then on each captain he did cry, 
In presence to appear that tide,' 

CCLXXVIII. 

That done, straitway he did ordain 

His battle brief on this same sort, 
Whose order and array right plain, 

With pen I truly shall report. 



60 THE BATTLR 

CCLXXIX. 

When Stanley did with stomach stout 

Valiantly the vanguard crave, 
The Earl of Surrey sore did doubt, 

That too much honour he should have, 

CCLXXX. 

If fortune good fell on his part, 

And valiant victor he did return. 
'Gainst Stanley's blood such hateful heart 

In the Earl's blood did boiling burn. 

CCLXXXI. 

Wherefore in forward, first of all 

Chief Captain constituted he 
His loving son Lord Admiral, 

With soldiers such as came from sea. 

CCLXXXII. 

Whom valiant Lords accompanied, 
With barons bold, and hardy knights ; 

Lord Ogle one of courage tried, 
Who led a band of warlike wights. 

CCLXXXIII. 

In order, next to the Admiral, 

The lusty knight, Lord Clifford, went, 

Who was concealed in shepherd's coat, 
Till twice twelve years were gone and spent. 



OF FLO D DON. ()\ 

CCLXXXIV. 

For when his father at Wakefield, 

The Duke of York and his son had slain, 

He by a friend was thus concealed, 
Till Richmond's Earl began his reign. 

CCLXXXV. 

And him restored to all his right 

Seating him in his father's land ; 
Or else to death he had been dight, 

While the house of York had the uphand. 

CCLXXXVI. 

Now like a captain bold he brought 

A band of lusty lads elect, 
Whose curious coats, most cunning wrought, 

With dreadful dragons were bedeckt. 

CCLXXXVII. 

From Pennigent to Pendlehill, 

From Linton to Long Addingham, 

And they that Craven coasts did till, 
All with the lofty Clifford came, 

CCLXXXVIII. 

All StainclifF hundred went \\ith him, 
With striplings strong from Worledale^ 

And all that Haughton hills did climb, 
With Langs troth too, and Littondale. 



GQ, THE BATTLE 

CCLXXXIX. 

Whose milk-fed fellows, fleshly bred, 
Were fit the strongest bows to bend ; 

All such as Horton-fells had fed, 
On Clifford's banner did attend. 

ccxc. 
Lord Lumley next, and Latimer 

Were equal matched with all their power, 
With whom was next their neighbour near 

Lord Conyers stout, and stiff in stour. 

ccxci. 
With many a gentleman and squire, 

From Rippon, Ripley, and Rydale, 
With them marched forth all Massamshire, 

With Nosterfield and Netherdale. 

ccxcii. 
With Tillmen tough, in harness store, 

Who turned the furrows of Mittan-field, 
With Billmen bold from Blackamoore, 

Most warlike wights, these Lords did wield. 

CCXCIII. 

Next them was placed, with all his power, 
Lord Scroope of Upsall, aged knight. 

Sir Stephen Bull, with all his power, 

Was matched next him with all his might, 



OF FLODDON. 63 

CCXCIV. 

Sir Walter Griffith, sage and grave, 
Was with Sir Henry Sherbourn bent, 

And under Buhner's banner brave, 

The whole bishoprick of Durham went. 

ccxcv. 
The Third Part it will more unfold 

The glorious train of heroes bright, 
Such as may please the sage and old, 

And yield to children sweet delight. 



THE BATTLE OF FLODBON. 65 



PART III. 



FIT V. 



CCXCVI. 

Sir Christopher Ward the next ensued, 
With him Sir Edward Echingham ; 

Next were Sir Nicholas Appleyard, 
Sir Mettham, Sidney, Everingham. 

ccxcvu. 
All in the foremost battle bold, 

These knights who in the vanguard were 
Seven thousand men numbered and told, 

Simplest of whom bore bow or spear. 

ccxcvin. 
Then the Earl, Sir Edmund Howard 

Did call, and Marshall soon him made ; 
u My son," said he, " now soon set forward, 

" With valiant hearts the Scots invade. 



66 THE BATTLE 

CCXCIX. 

" Chief captain of the right-hand wing, 
" To brother thine I thee ordain ; 

" Now surely see thou serve the King, 
" And for his sake never think it pain. 

ccc. 
" Of southern soldiers hundreds two, 

* Under thy wing shall go with thee ;" 
A thousand thanks Sir Edmund to 

His father dear did render free. 

ccci. 
With him was matched an equal mate, 

Bryan Tun stall, that trusty squire ; 
Whose stomach stout nought could abate, 

Nor ought could sway his bold desire. 

cccn. 
The glory of his grandsire old, 

The famous acts too of his sire ; 
His blood, unspotted, made him bold, 

And stirred his stomach hot as fire. 

cccm. 
For when debate did first begin, 

And rancour raised most rueful work, 
And ruffling ruled this realm within, 

Twixt Lancaster and the house of York. 



OF FLODDON. 67 

CCCIV. 

During which hurly-burly strife, 

Were murdered many a mother's child ; 

Many a Lord bereaved of life, 

And noble house with blood defiled. 

cccv. 

But this man's father, void of fear 

While in this realm such ruffling was, 

To Henry the Sixth did still adhere, 
And for no pains did from him pass. 

cccvi. 
For he to York would never jdeld, 

For all the struggling stir and strife, 
Nine times he fiercely fought in field, 

So oft in danger was his life. 

cccvn. 
And when the king was captive caught, 

And the Earl of Warwick overthrown, 
To save his life best means he sought, 

And was in bark to Bretagne blown. 

cccvin. 
With Earl of Richmond he remained, 

And Lords of the Lancastrian kin ; 
When then the Earl the crown had gained, 

And England's empire fair did win, 



(58 THE BATTLE 

CCCIX. 

He rendered Tunstall all his right, 
Knowing his valiant blood unstained, 

The King he caused this trusty knight, 
Undefiled Tunstall to be named. 

cccx. 
Most fierce he fought at Thalian field, 

Where Martin Swart on ground lay slain, 
When rage did reign, he never reeled, 

But like a rock did still remain. 

cccxi. 
Now came this man amongst the rest, 

To match his father in manhood, 
For battle ready bent and prest, 

With him a band of lusty blood. 

cccxn. 
Next went Sir Bold, and Butler brave, 

Two valiant knights of Lancashire, 
Then Bruerton bold, and Bygod grave, 

With Warcop wild, a worthy squire. 

cccxin. 
Next Richard Chomley and Chiston stout, 

With men of Hatfield, and of Hull, 
Laurence of Dun, with all his rout, 

The people freest with them did pull. 



OF FLODDON. 69 

CCCXIV. 

Job a Glarvis then was 'nexed near, 
With Stapleton of stomach stern ; 

Next whom Fitz-w illiams forth did fare, 
Who martial feats was not to learn. 

cccxv. 

These captains keen, with all their might, 
In right-hand wing did warlike wend : 

All these on Edmund Howard, knight, 
The Earl ordained to attend. 

cccxvi. 
Then next the left-hand wing did wield 

Sir Marmaduke Constable old, 
With him a troop well tried in field, 

And eke his sons and kinsfolk bold. 

cccxvu. 

Next him Sir William Percy stood, 

Who went with the Earl Piercy's power, 

From Lancashire of lusty blood, 
A thousand soldiers stiff in stour. 

cccxvin. 
Then the Earl himself did undertake 

Of the rearward the regiment ; 
Whom barons bold did bravely back, 

And southern soldiers seemly bent. 



70 THE BATTLE 

CCCXIX. 

Next whom in place was 'nexed near 
Lord Scroope of Bolton stern and stout, 

On horseback, who had not his peer, 
No English man, Scots more did doubt. 

cccxx. 

With him did wend all Wensledale 
From Morton unto Morsdale-moor : 

All they that dwelt by the banks of Swale, 
With him were bent in harness-store. 

cccxxi. 

From Wensdale w r arlike wights did wend, 
From Bishopsdale went bowmen bold ; 

From Coverdale to Cotter End, 
And all to Kidson Causeway cold. 

cccxxn. 
From Mollerstang and Middleham, 

And all from Mask and Middletonby, 
And all that climb the mountain Cam, 

Whose crown from frost is seldom free. 

CCCXXIII. 

With lusty lads and large of length, 
Which dwelt on Seimer water-side ; 

All Richmondshire its total strength, 
The valiant Scroope did lead and guide. 



OF FLODDON. 71 

CCCXXIV. 

Next went Sir Philip Tilney tall, 

With him Sir Thomas Barclay brave \ 

Sir John Ratcliff in arms royal, 

With Sir William Gascoyne grave. 

cccxxv. 
Next whom did pass, with all his rout, 

Sir Christopher Pickering proud; 
Sir Bryan Stapleton, most stout, 

Two valiant knights of noble blood. 

cccxxvi. 
Next with Sir John Stanley there came 

The Bishop of Ely's servant bold ; 
Sir Lionel Piercy, knight of fame, 

Did lead some hundred men well told. 

CCCXXV1I. 

Next went Sir Ninian Markanville, 
In armour-coat of cunning work ; 

The next went Sir John Normanville, 
With him the citizens of York. 

CCCXXVIII. 

Sir George Darcy, in banner bright, 

Did bear a bloody broken spear ; 
Next went Sir Magnus with his might, 

And Clapham bold of lusty chear. 



72 THE BATTLE 

CCCXXIX. 

Sir Guy Dawney, with glorious rout, 
Then Mr. Dalby's servants bold ; 

Then Richard Tempest, with his rout. 
In rereward thus array did hold. 

cccxxx. 

The right-hand wing, with all his rout, 
The lusty Lord Dacres did lead ; 

With him the bows of Kendal stout, 
With milk-white coats and crosses red. 

cccxxxi. 
All Keswick eke, and Cockermouth, 

And all the Capeland craggy hills ; 
All Westmoreland, both north and south, 

Whose weapons were great weighty bills. 

cccxxxn. 

All Carlisle eke and Cumberland, 

With the Lord Dacres proud did pass, 

From Branton and from Broughly sands, 
From Grayston and from Ravenglass. 

cccxxxin. 
With striplings stout from Stainmoor side, 

And Austen-moor, men marched even ; 
And those that Gilsland grave did hide, 

With horsemen light from Heshan-Leven, 



OF FLODDON. 73 

CCCXXXIV. 

All these did go in Dacres' band, 
All these ensued his banner broad ; 

No lustier Lord was in this land, 

Nor more might boast of birth and blood. 

cccxxxv. 
Many strong horses, huge of height, 

Were all his own to give or sell, 
A baron fair by his birthright, 

And heritage, which to him fell. 

cccxxxvi. 
These royal Lords thus ray did hold, 

With ranges, ranks, and warlike wings, 
But yet the man is left untold, 

From whom true valour fairly springs. 

CCCXXXVII. 

Whose worthy praise and prowess great, 
Whose glorious fame shall never blin ; 

Nor Neptune ever shall forget, 

What praise he hath left to his king. 

CCCXXXVIII. 

Sir Edward Stanley, stiff in stour, 

He is the man on whom I mean ; 
With him did pass a mighty power 

Of soldiers seemly to be seen. 



74 THE BATTLE 

CCCXXXIX. 

Most lively lads in Lonsdale bred, 

With weapons of unwieldy weight ; 
All such as Tatham Fells had fed, 
Went under Stanley's streamer bright. 

CCCXL. 

From Bolland bill-men bold came on, 
With such as Botton Banks did hide; 

From Wharmore up to Whittington, 
And all to Wenning water-side. 

CCCXLI. 

From Silverdale and Kent Sand-side, 
Where soil is sown with cockle-shells ; 

From Cartmel eke and Conney-side, 
And fellows fierce from Furney's fells. 

CCCXLII. 

All Lancashire, for the most part, 

The lusty Stanley stout did lead, 
A stock of striplings strong of heart, 

Brought up from babes with beef and bread. 

CCCXLIII. 

From Warton unto Warrington, 

From Wiggan unto Wiresdale, 
From Wedicar to Waddington, 

From Ribchester unto Ratchdale. 



OF FLODDON, 75 

CCCXLIV. 

From Poulton and Preston, with pikes, 
They with the valiant Stanley went, 

From Pemerton and Pilling-dikes, 
For battle bill-men bold were bent. 

CCCXLV. 

With fellows fresh, and fierce in fight, 
Which Horton-fields did turn in furs, 

With lusty lads hearty and light, 

From Blackbourn and Bolton in the moors. 

CCCXLVI. 

With youth elected from Cheshire, 

In armour bright for battle drest ; 
And many a gentleman and squire, 

Were under Stanley's streamer prest, 

CCCXLVII. 

Thus Stanley stout, the last of all 
Of the rereward, the rule did wield ; 

Which done to Bolton in Glendale, 
The total army took the field. 

CCCXLVIII. 

Where all the council did consent, 

That Rouge Croix to the Scottish King 

With strict instructions should be sent, 
To know for why these wars did spring. 



THE JJATTLE 



FIT VI. 



CCCXLIX. 

>V here as the castle too of Ford 
He threatened had to overthrow; 

Rouge Croix was charged word for word, 
The Earl's intent to let him know. 

CCCL. 

That if the king would so agree, 
To suffer that said fort to stand, 

And William Heron send home free, 
Who there w r as captive in Scotland ; 

CCCLI. 

If thus the king would condescend, 
The Earl promised to restore, 

And to the King immediate send, 
Of Scotsmen taken captives four, 

CCCLII. 

Lord Johnston and Sir Sandy Hume, 
Richard Hume and William Carr: 

But if King James w r ould yet presume, 
In wrongful sort to raise up war 



OF FLODDON. 77 

CCCLIIT. 

Against King Henry his brother-in-law, 

And commons cruelly would kill, 
And piles and forts would fierce down draw, 

And English blood proceed to spill, 

CCCLIV. 

The Earl charged the heraldf strait, 

To certify the said Scots king, 
That he in the field with him would fight, 

On Friday then next following. 

CCCLV. 

And then ere Rouge Croix forth did fare, 

The Admiral took him aside, 
And bade him to the king declare, 

" His coming and access that tide. 

CCCLVI. 

u That he from sea descended was 
" With all his total power and might, 

" And that in forward with his Grace, 
" He would prepare himself to fight. 

CCCLVII. 

" And when the Scots for him did call 
" In days of March to make redress, 

" For Andrew Barton their Admiral, 

"-Whom he with blood v blade did bless, 



78 THE BATTLE 

CCCLVIII. 

u Now he was come in person prest 

u The said Sir Andrew's death to vouch ; 

M And if it in his power doth rest," 

Quoth he, " I shall serve him with such. 

CCCLIX. 

u For there no Scot shall 'scape unslain, 
" The King in person sole except; 

" For so of Scots," quoth he again, 
" No other mercy I expect." 

CCCLX. 

And yet ere Rouge Croix went his way 
The Earl and counsel did expect, 

That the Scots King, without delay, 
An herald w r ould again direct. 

CCCLXI. 

Rouge Croix was yet commanded there 
No Scotchman near the field to bring, 

Lest he their conduct might declare, 

And thereby dangers great might spring. 

CCCLXII. 

Then Rouge Croix ready took his horse, 
Bedeckt with coat of arms most brave, 

With him did go a trumpet hoarse, 

That Scots their coming might perceive, 



OF FLODDON. 7£ 

CCCLXIII. 

Their geldings were both good and light, 
From galloping they seldom staid, 

Till at the length they viewed in sight, 
Whereas their enemy's army laid. 

CCCLXIV. 

The Scottish watch soon them descried, 
And them conveyed before the king, 

Where he with barons bold did bide, 

Whom Rouge Croix, on the ground kneeling, 

CCCLXV. 

With salutations did greet. 

He after, his instructions straight, 
Each one exprest, in order meet, 

And letters 'livered in their sight. 

CCCLXVI. 

Whom, when the King of Scots had heard, 

And also read his letters large, 
Even frantic-like he fuming fared, 

And bombard-like did boasts discharge. 

CCCLXVII. 

" If true/' quoth he, " let it be exprest, 

" Thou herald sent anon recite : 
" And was your Earl so bold of breast, 

" Thus proudly to a prince to write ? 



80 THE BATTLE 

CCCLXVIII. 

u But since he seems to be so rough, 
" I swear by sceptre and by crown, 

" He shall have fighting fill enough, 
" On Friday, before sun go down, 

CCCLXIX. 

" Tor here to God I promise plight, 

" We never will part, from this same hill, 

" Till we have tried your Earl's whole might, 
11 And given your folks fighting their fill. 

CCCLXX. 

" Because he vexed our land of late, 
" Perchance his stomach is extolled, 

" But now we will withstand his Grace, 
" Or thousand heads there shall be polled." 

CCCLXXI. 

To presence then he called his peers, 
To whom he read the Earl's whole bill ; 

Audience being given, with ireful ears, 
Some said it came of little skill. 

CCCLXXIl. 

An Earl of such a simple shire, 

To anointed king such words to write ! 

Some bad the schedule cast in fire, 
Some for to speak did spare for spite. 



OF FLODDON. 81 

CCCLXXIII. 

Some said, the herald of his head, 

Such talk extempore did express, 
And counselled that they with speed, 

A Scottish herald should address, 

CCCLXXIV. 

To know of the Earl of Surrey plain, 

If he such message did procure ; 
And till the time he turned again, 

The English herald to make sure. 

CCCLXXV. 

Whereto the king did soon consent, 

That Rouge Croix should with them remain, 

And home with the English trumpet sent 
Their herald, Hay called by name. 

CCCLXXVl. 

Who was commanded for to know 

Of the Earl and his council sage, 
If Rouge Croix truth to him did show, 

Or if he had sent such message ? 

CCCLXXVII. 

And if true tidings he had brought, 
And to his Grace avouched no lie : 

The king in mind anon forethought, 
How he the Earl might terrify. 

M 



82 THE BATTLE 

CCCLXXVIII. 

He Hay then instructed strait, 
With letters large and eloquent ; 

Which done, they soon set forth that night, 
And towards the English camp they went* 

CCCLXXIX. 

But at a little village poor 

Hay did light, and lodging take; 

The army was two miles off or more, 

Whilst clanging trumpets noise did make. 

CCCLXXX. 

The night was even at midst well near, 
And the English lords lying on grass, 

Till time the trumpet did appear ; 
And told Earl Surrey all the case, 

CCCLXXXI. 

" How that the Scotchmen did detain 

" Rouge Croix, and credit him would not, 

" And for to know the truth more plain, 
" The king himself had sent a Scot " 

CCCLXXXII. 

Which he constrained for to stay, 
And lodged then in a village mean, 

Lest he their order might display, 
And so the Scots advantage gain. 



OF FLODDON. 83 

CCCLXXX1II, 

Which when the Earl had understood, 
And viewed the Scotchmen's dealings all, 

He, in a sound and sober mood, 
Upon his council strait did call. 

CCCLXXX1V. 

Where he in presence did repeat 

The total tale the trumpet told, 
The council mused with marvel great, 

Why Scots their herald did with-hold. 

CCCLXXXV. 

And causes none they could conjee t, 

But all surmises were deferred ; 
And sage advice was then defect, 

Till they the Scottish herald heard. 

CCCLXXXVI. 

Wherefore as soon as Phoebus fair 
Dame Luna's light and stars did stain, 

And burning in the fiery chair, 

His startling steeds haled forth amain, 

CCCLXXXVII. 

The Earl then called his council sage, 
Who soon on horseback did surround ; 

And every man did bring his page, 
To hold their horses in that stound. 



84 THE BATTLE 

CCCLXXXVIII. 

But when they stept within the street, 
The Scot was scarce from cabbage got, 

Where he the English Earl did greet, 
With little courtesy, like a Scot. 

CCCLXXXIX. 

Which done, the Earl did then command 

His message he should manifest, 
Then Hay quickly out of hand, 

His chiefest charge anon exprest. 

cccxc. 

" My Sovereign Lord/' quoth he, " King James, 
" Would of your honour gladly hear, 

" If Rouge Croix was charged in your name, 
" Such bold words to his Grace to bear. 

cccxci. 

" My master doth mistrust his words, 
" They cannot well be understood ; 

" Likewise do all our peerless Lords," 

Then soon he told what Rouge Croix said. 

cccxcu. 
Quoth the Earl, " What does thy master mean 

" Of herald ours to make such dread, 
" He did not forge the same, nor feign, 

" Nor do we any favour need. 



OF FLODDON. 85 

cecxcm. 
u Our herald's words, we will justify, 

" Who truly did the same reveal ; 
* His writings too the same will try, 

" Which of our arms do bear the seal. 

cccxciv. 
" Wherefore I of thy master muse, 

" Our herald why he handleth so. 
" And 'gainst all reason doth refuse, 

" Our message to make answer to," 

cccxcv. 
Then Hay to the Earl replied, 

" I say," quoth he, " so said my Lord, 
" And to your message at this tide, 

" I shall make answer word for word. 

cccxcvi. 
u And for Ford-castle first of all, 

" AVhich to preserve you make such suit, 
" To save the same from fire or fall, 

" My master thereto biddeth mute. 

cccxcvu. 
" And for the owner of the fort, 

" Who William Heron hath to name, 
" My master says, to show you short, 

" He will not answer to the same. 



86 THE BATTLE 

CCCXCVIII. 

" For Johnston and Sir Sandy Hume, 
" Richard Hume and William Carr, 

" Our Prince himself in person is come, 
" Them to redeem by dint of war. 

cccxcix. 
" If you your message dare make good, 

" On Friday next in field to fight, 
u My master with a manful mood, 

" To mighty Jove hath promised plight 

cccc. 
" For to abide the battle bold, 

" And give your folks fighting their fill, 
" And that your Lordship show I should, 

" So grateful be his Grace until, 

cccci. 

" As any Earl all England thorough ; 

" For if you had such message sent, 
" To him at home in Edinborough, 

" He would have answered your intent. 

ccccn. 

" Now if with dint of sword you dare, 
" Abide his Grace in battle bold, 

" On Friday next, he craves no far, 
" My message whole now I have told." 



OF FLODDON. $7 

CCCCIII. 

A thousand thanks, Earl Surrey there, 

Unto the Royal King did yield, 
Whose princely heart did not forbear, 

So simple a lord to meet in field. 

cccciv. 
And then a valiant vow he plight, 

That he the battle bold would bide, 
And on prefixed day would fight. 

Which done he did command that tide, 

ccccv. 

The Scottish herald Hay kept, 

Should for a season there sojourn, 

And in safe custody be kept, 

Till time that Rouge Croix did return. 

ccccvi. 

When this the herald Hay heard, 

He to the King his servant sent, 
Who to his Grace all things declared, 

With the Earl's answer and intent. 

ccccvu. 
The King then Rouge Croix did discharge, 

Who hied home to the Earl in haste, 
Then Hay was let go at large, 

When Rouge Croix came, who was kept fast 



88 THE BATTLE 

CCCCVIIK 

Then Rouge Croix did make true report 
To the Earl and Captains in like case, 

As he had seen, and in what sort, 
The Scottish King encamped was, 

ccccix. 
Even on the height of Floddon Hill, 

Where down below his ordnance lay, 
So strong that no man's cunning skill 

To fight with him could find a way. 

€CCCX. 

Such mountains steep, such craggy hills, 
His army on one side did not lose, 

The other side, great grizzly gills, 
Did fence about with mire and moss. 

CCCCXI. 

Which, when the Earl had understood, 
He counsel craved of his captains all, 

Who bad «et forth with manful mood, 
And take such fortune as would falL 

CCCCXII. 

Whereto the Earl did soon consent, 
And quickly called for a guide, 

Lest by the way he harm might hent, 
But hark, what happened that tie. 



OF FLODDON. 89 

CCCCXIII. 

The army pressed thus to proceed, 
And all prepared in ranks to fight, 

Came on a champion then indeed, 

With sword in hand, in armour bright. 

ccccxiv. 
At first his face his helmet hid, 

Thus plainly have I heard report, 
Who swiftly by the ranks did ride, 

And to the Earl did strait resort. 

ccccxv. 

The army marvelled at this man, 

To see him ride in such array, 
But what he was, or whence he came, 

None of them all could certain say. 

ccccxvi. 
When he the Earl of Surrey saw, 

From off his stead, he leaped there, 
And kneeling, gracefully did bow, 

Holding his horse and quivering spear. 

ccccxvu. 

In little time he silence brake, 

" My Lord," quoth he, " afford some grace ; 
" Pardon my life for pity's sake, 

" For now you are in King Henry's place. 

N 



90 THE BATTLE 

CCCCXVIIT. 

u Mercy, my Lord, from you I crave, 
" Freely forgive me mine offence : 

" Perhaps you shortly may perceive, 
" Your kindness I shall recompence." 

ccccxix. 
Quoth the Earl then, " Tell us thy name : 

" Perhaps you have done some heinous deed, 
" And dare not shew thy face for shame, 

" What is thy fact, declare with speed. 

ccccxx. 

" If thou hast wrought some treason, tell r 
" Or English blood by murder spilt, 

H Or hast thou been some rude rebell, 
" Else we will pardon thee thy guilt." 

CCCCXXI. 

Then to the Earl he did reply, 

" My Lord, my crime it is not such ; 

" The total world I do defy, 

" No man for treason can me touch. 

ccccxxn. 
" I grant indeed I wrong have wrought, 

" Yet disobedience was the worst ; 
" Else I am clear from deed or thought, 

" And to extreams I have been forced. 



OF FLODDON. 91 

CCCCXXIII. 

u And as for hurting English men, 
" I never hurt man, maid, or wife, 

" Howbeit, Scots some nine or ten, 
" At least, I have bereaved of life, 

ccccxxiv. 
" Else I, in time of wealth and want, 

" Unto my king persisted true, 
" Wherefore, good Lord, my life now grant, 

" And then my name I will shortly shew." 

ccccxxv. 

Quoth the Earl, then " Pluck up thy heart, 
" You seem to be a person brave ; 

u Stand up at once, lay dread apart, 
" Thy pardon freely thou shalt have. 

ccccxxvi. 
u Thou seemest to be a man indeed, 

" And of thy hands hardy and wight, 
" Of such a man we will stand in need, 

" Perchance at Friday next at night." 

ccccxxvu. 
Then on his feet he started strait, 

And thanked the Earl for that good tide, 
Then on his horse he leaped light, 

Sayijig, " My Lord, ye lack a guide, 



92 THE BATTLE 

CCCCXXVIII. 

" But I shall you conduct full strait 
" To where the Scots encamped are; 

" I know of old the Scottish sleight, 
" And crafty stratagems of war. 

ccccxxix. 
" Thereto experience hath me taught, 

" Now I will shew you who I am ; 
" On borders here I was up brought, 

" And Bastard Heron is my name." 

ccccxxx. 
" What/' quoth the Earl, " Bastard Kferon, 

" He dyed at least now two years since, 
" Betwixt Newark and Northampton, 

" He perished through the pestilence. 

CCCCXXXI. 

H Our king to death had deemed the man, 
u 'Cause he the Scottish warden slew, 

H And on our borders first began 
" Those raging wars for to renew. 

ccccxxxn. 
" But God his purpose did prevent, 

" He died of the plague, to prove, 
" King Henry his death did since lament, 

" He wond'rous well the man did love. 



OF FLODDON. 93 

CCCCXXXIII. 

u Would God thy tale were true this tide, 
" Thou Bastard Heron might be found, 

u Thou in this gate should be our guide, 
" I know right well you know the ground." 

ccccxxxiv. 
u I am the same," said he again, 

And therewith did unfold his face: 
Each person then perceived him plain, 

That done, he opened all the case. 

ccccxxxv. 
Quoth he " When I the Scots warden 

" Had with my blade bereaved of life, 
" I knew well I should get no pardon, 

" But sure I was to suffer death. 

CCCCXXXVI. 

" In haste King Henry for me sent, 

" To whom I durst not disobey : 
" So towards London strait I went, 

" But, hark, what I wrought by the way. 

CCCCXXXVII. 

" I nothing but the truth shall note : 

" That time in many a town and borough, 

" The pestilence was raging hot, 

" And raging, reigned all England thorough. 



94 THE BATTLE 

CCCCXXXVIII. 

" So coming to a certain town, 

" I said I was infected sore ; 
" And in a lodge they laid me down, 

" Where company I had no more ; 

ccccxxxix. 
u But my own secret servants three, 

" AVho, fraid of townsmen, careful watched ; 
" So in that stead no more staid I, 

" But homeward by the dark dispatched. 

CCCCXL. 

u My servants secretly that night, 
" Did frame a corps in cunning sort; 

" And on the morning, soon as light, 
" My death did ruefully report. 

CCCCXLI. 

" And so my servants on that morn 
" The corps to bury soon were bound ; 

" Crying, Alas ! like men forlorn, 

" And seemed for sorrow to fall down. 

CCCCXLII. 

" The corps they cunningly conveyed, 
" And made the bell aloud be rung ; 

" And money to the priest they paid, 
u And service for my soul was sung. 



OF FLODDON. 95 

CCCCXLIII. 

u Which done, they tidings strait did bring 
" Unto King Henry, I was dead ; 

" * Christ have his soul/ then said the king, 
" l For sure he should have lost his head. 

CCCCXLIV. 

" i If he up to the court had come, 
" ' I promised had so, by St. Paul, 

" i But since God did prevent our doom, 
" ' Almighty Christ forgive his saul/ 

CCCCXLV. 

" To mansion mine, I came at last, 
" By journeys nimbly, all by night; 

H And now two years or more are past 
" Since openly I came in sight. 

CCCCXLVI. 

" No wight did know but I was dead 
" Save my three servants and my wife ; 

" Now am I start up in this stead, 

" And come again from death to life." 

CCCCXLVII. 

So said, the lords and knights of fame, 
From laughing loud could not refrain ; 

To hear his Gando, had good game, 
And of his welfare all were fain. 



90 THE BATTLE 

CCCCXLVIII. 

Whose policy they had perceived, 
And oftentimes his truth had tried, 

Which was the cause so sore they craved, 
This Heron grave to be their guide. 

CCCCXLIX. 

Read the Fourth Part, it makes an end 
Of Heron's story, and the fight. 

Let young and old to this attend, 
It will give instruction with delight. 



OF FLQDDQN. 97 



PART IV 



FIT VIL 

CCCCL. 

Then forth before brave Heron flew, 
The borderers bold to him did draw, 

The total army did ensue, 

And came that night to Wooler-Haugh. 

CCCCLI. 

The English Lords there lodged their host, 
Because the place was plain and dry ; 

And was within six miles at most, 
Whereas their enemies did lie. 

CCCCLII. 

The morrow next they were removed, 
Though weather was both foul and ill, 

Along down by a pleasant flood, 
Which called is, the Water of Till. 



98 THE BATTLE 

CCCCLIII. 

And all that day they viewed in sight. 
Whereas the Scots for battle stood, 

Because the day was spent, that night 
The army lodged at Barmoor-wood. 

CCCCLIV. 

Then valiantly, with the vanguard, 
The morrow next, with mature skill, 

The Admiral did march forward, 
And passed over the water of Till. 

CCCCLV. 

At Twizel-bridge, with ordnance, 
And other engines fit for war, 

His father eke did forth advance, 

And at Millfield from thence not far, 

CCCCLVI. 

With the rereward, the river past, 
All ready in ranks and battle-array, 

They had no need more time to waste, 
For victuals they had none that day. 

CCCCLVIl. 

But black fasting as they were born, 
From flesh or fish, or other food ; 

Drink had they none two days before, 
But water won in running flood. 



OF FLODDON. 99 

CCCCLVIII. 

Yet they such stedful faiths did bear 

Unto their king and native land ; 
Each one to other then did swear, 

'Gainst foes to fight while they could stand. 

CCCCLIX. 

And never flee, while life did last, 

But rather die by dint of sword : 
Thus over plains and hills they past, 

Until they came to Sandyford. 

CCCCLX. 

A brook, of breadth a taylor's yard, 

Where the Earl of Surrey thus did say, 

" Good fellow soldiers be not afraid, 
" But fight it out like men this day. 

CCCCLXI. 

" Like Englishmen now play your parts, 
" Bestow your strokes with stomach bold, 

" Ye know the Scottish toward hearts, 
" And how we have scourged them of old. 

CCCCLX1I. 

" Strike but three strokes with stomach stout, 
" And shoot each man sharp arrows three, 

■" And you shall see without all doubt, 
" The scolding Scots begin to flee, 



100 THE BATTLE 

CCCCLXIH. 

" Think on your country's commonwealth, 
" In what estate the same shall stand, 

" To Englishmen no hopes of health, 
" If Scotsmen gain the upper hand. 

CCCCLXIV. 

" If we should not them boldly bide, 

" But, cowards-like, froth them should turn ; 

" All England north, from Trent to Tweed, 
" The haughty Scots would harry and burn. 

CCCCLXV. 

" Your faithful wives, and daughters pure, 
" They would not stick for to defile ; 

" Of life none could be safe and sure, 
" But murdered be by villains vile. 

CCCCLXVI. 

" But if you will fight like souls most fierce, 
" So that by force we win the field, 

" My tongue cannot tell and rehearse 

" What plenteous soil we then shall wield. 

CCCCLXVII. 

w Besides all that, perpetual praise 
" Throughout all ages we shall gain, 

" And quietly pass out our da\'s ; 
" And in a lasting peace remain/' 



OF FLODDON. 101 

CCCCLXVIII. 

u Agreed ;"— the soldiers then replied, 
And to the Earl they promised plight, 

" There on that bent boldly to bide, 
" And never flee, but fiercely fight;" 

CCCCLXIX. 

Then marched forth the men of war, 
And every band their banners shewed ; 

And trumpets hoarse were heard afar, 
And harness glittering was viewed. 

CCCCLXX. 

Thus they past forth along the plain, 

And strait forth by a valley low ; 
Whence up above, on the mountain, 

The Scotch army they clearly saw. 

CCCCLXXI. 

Which they did leave on the left hand, 
And past forth on the Surrey side, 

Till twixt the Scots and Scottish land, 
They were conducted by their guide. 

CCCCLXXII. 

Now all this while the King of Scots 

Beheld them fair before his eyne, 
Within his mind drove many doubts, 

Musing what the English did mean. 



102 THE BATTLE 

CCCCLXXIII. 

Giles Musgrave, then, a gainful Greek, 
And friend familiar with the king, 

Said, " Now, Sir King, if you do seek, 
" To know the English men's meaning, 

CCCCLXXIV, 

u You better notice cannot have, 

" Than that which I to you shall tell, 

■ u What they forecast, I full conceive, 
" I know their meaning passing well. 

CCCCLXXVv 

" Your marches they mean for to sack, 
*' And borders yours to harry and burn, 

u Wherefore it's best that we go back, 
u From such intent them for to turn." 

CCCCLXXVI. 

This Musgrave was a man of skill, 

And spake this for a policy, 
To cause the king come down the hill, 

That so the battle tried might be. 

CCCCLXXVII. 

The king gave credit to his words, 
Trusting his talk was void of train, 

He, with consent of all his lords, 

Did march with speed down to the plain. 



OF FLODDON. 103 

CCCCLXXVIII. 

By north there was another hill, 

Which Branxton-hill is called by name, 

The Scots there scoured with right good will, 
Lest the English men should get the same. 

CCCCLXXIX. 

The litter which they left behind, 

And other filth on fire they set, 
Whose dusty smoak the light did blind, 

That both the armies soon they met* 

CCCCLXXX. 

For when the weather waxed clear 
And smoak consumed within a while, 

The armies both in distance were, 
Not past a quarter of a mile. 

CCCCLXXXI. 

Then the Admiral did plain aspect 

The Scots arrayed in battles four, 
The man was sage and circumspect, 

And soon perceived that his power 

CCCCLXXXII. 

So great a strength could not gainstand, 

Wherefore he to his father sent, 
Desiring him strait out of hand, 

With the rereward ready to be bent, 



104 THE BATTLE 

CCCCLXXXIII. 

And join with him in equal ground : 
Whereto the Earl agreed anon, 

Then drums struck up with dreadful sounds 
And trumpets blew with doleful tune. 

cccclxxxiv. 
Then sounding bows were soon up bent, 

Some did their arrows sharp up take, 
Some did in hand their halbards hent, 

Some rusty bills did ruffling shake. 



OF FLODDON. 105 



FIT VIIL 



CCCCLXXXV. 

Then ordnance great anon out-brast, 
On either side, with thundering thumps, 

And roaring guns with fire fast, 

Then levelled out great leaden lumps. 

CCCCLXXXVI. 

With rumbling rage thus Vulcan's art, 
Began this fierce and dreadful fight, 

But the arch-gunner on the English part, 
The master Scot did mark so right, 

CCCCLXXXVII. 

That he with bullet brust his brain, 
And hurled his heels his head above, 

Then piped he such a peal again, 

The Scots he from their ordnance drove. 

CCCCLXXXVIII. 

So by the Scots artillery, 

The Englishmen no harm did hend; 
But the English gunner grievously, 

Them tennis-balls did sousing send, 



106 THE BATTLE 

CCCCLXXXIX. 

Into the midst of the enemies' ranks, 

Where they in furious rage down rushed, 

Some shouting laid with broken shanks, 
Some crying laid with numbers crushed. 

ccccxc. 
Thus Englishmen with bombard shot, 

Their enemies down thick they threw ; 
But yet the Scots, with stomach stout, 

Their broken ranks did still renew. 

ccccxci. 
And when the roaring guns did cease 

To handy strokes they hied apace ; 
And with their total power did press, 

To join with enemies face to face. 

ccccxcn. 
Then Englishmen, a feathered flight 

Sent out anon from sounding bow, 
Which wounded many a warlike wight ; 

And many a groom to ground did throw. 

ccccxcm. 
The gray-goose wings did work such grief 

And did the Scots so scour and skail ; 
For in their battle, to be brief, 

They rattling flew as rank as hail. 



OF FLODDON. 107 

cccexciv. 
That many a soldier on the soil, 

Lay dead that day through dint of dart, 
The arrows keen kept such a coil, 

And wounded many to the heart. 

ccccxcv. 
They pierced the scalp of many a Scot, 

So that on ground they groaning fell, 
Some had his shoulder quite through shot, 

Some losing life, did loudly yelh 

CCCCXCVI. 

One from his leg the lance would pull, 
Another through his stomach stricked ; 

Some bleeding, bellowed like a bull, 

Some were through privy members pricked. 

ccccxcvu. 
But yet the Scots still stout did stand, 

Till arrow-shot at last was done, 
And then they went to strokes of hand, 

And at the last did battle join. 

ccccxcvin. 
Then on the English part with speed, 

The bills stept forth, and bows went back, 
The Moorish pikes, and mells of lead, 

Did deal there many a dreadful thwack. 



I OS THE JBATTLK 

CCCCXCIX 

The Englishmen stretcht east and west, 
And southward did their faces set; 

The Scotchmen northward proudly prest, 
And manfully their foes they met. 

d. 
First, westward of a wing there was 

Sir Edmund Howard, captain chief, 
With whom did pass, in equal mace, 

Sir Bryan Tunstall, to be brief. 

DI, 

With whom encountered a strong Scot, 
Who was the king's chief chamberlain, 

Lord Hume by name, of courage hot, 
Who manfully marched them again. 

DII. 

Ten thousand Scots, well tried and told, 
Under his standard stout he led ; 

When the Englishmen did him behold, 
For fear at first they would have fled, 

Dili. 

Had not the valiant Tunstall been 

Who still stept on with stomach stout, 

Crying, " Come on, good countrymen, 
" Now fiercely lot us fight it out. 



OF FLODDON. 10Q 

DIV. 

44 Let not the number of our foes, 

44 Your manful hearts minish or shake, 

" Nor never let the world suppose, 

* That Scotchmen made us turn our back. 

DV. 

44 Like doughty lads, let us rather die, 
44 And from our blood take all rebuke : 

" With edged tools now let us try ;" 

Then from the ground he mould up took, 

DVI. 

And did the same in mouth receive 

In token of his Maker dear ; 
Which, when his people did perceive, 

His r valiant heart renewed their chear. 

DVII. 

Then first before, in foremost ray, 

The trusty Tunstall bold forth sprung ; 

His stomach could no longer stay, 

But thundering thrust into the throng. 

DVIII. 

And as true men did make report 
In present place which did on look, 

He was the first for to be short, 

On the English part, that proffered stroke. 



HO THE BATTLE 

DIX. 

All those that he with halbert wrought, 
He made to stagger in that stound ; 

And many a man to ground he brought. 
And dealt there many a deadly wound. 

DX. 

And forward still 'gainst foes he flew, 
And threshing turned them all to teen ; 

Where he a noble Scotchman slew, 
Who called was Sir Malkin Keene. 

DXI. 

He still his foes pursued fast, 

And weapon in Scotch blood he warmed, 
And slaughter lashed, till at the last 

The Scots so thick about him swarmed, 

DXII. 

That he from succour covered was, 

And from his men which Scots had skailed, 

Yet for all that he kept his place, 
He fiercely fought, and never failed. 

DXIII. 

Till with an edged sword one came, 

And at his legs below did dash ; 
And near a score of Scots, the same, 

Upon his helmet high did clash. 



OF FLODDON. Ill 

DXIV. 

Though he could not withstand such strength, 
Yet never would he flee nor yield, 

Alas ! for want of aid, at length, 
He slain was fighting in the field. 

DXV. 

Down fell this valiant active knight, 
His body great, on ground did lie; 

But up to Heaven, with angels bright, 
His golden ghost did fluttering fly. 

DXVI. 

Who, now, intombed, lies at a church, 
Carved out in stone to shew his fate, 

That though, b)^ fate, left in the lurch, 
He died a death renowned and great. 

DXVII. 

After his fall the people fled, 

And all that wing did fall to wrack, 

Some fighting fierce died in the stead, 
The rest for terror turned their back. 

dxviii. 
Save Sir Edmund Howard all alone, 

Who with his standard-bearer yet, 
Seeing his folks all fled and gone ; 

In haste to vanguard hyed to get, 



1 12 THE BATTLE 

DXIX. 

But he Scot-free had not so 'scaped, 
For why, right hot Sir David Hume, 

With troop of horse had him entrapped, 
Had not John Bastard Heron come 

DXX. 

With half a score of horsemen light, 

Crying, " Now Howard, have good heart, 

" For unto death till we be dight, 
" I promise here to take thy part." 

DXXI. 

Which heard then Howard's heart up drew, 
And with the spearmen forth he sprung, 

And fierce among their foes they flew, 

Where David Hume down dead they flung. 

J)XXII. 

Then many a Scot that stout did stand, 
With dreadful stroke they did reward ; 

So Howard, through bold Heron's hand, 
Came safe and sound to the vanguard. 

DXXIII. 

Where the Admiral, with strength extent, 
Then in the field fierce fighting was, 

'Gainst whom in battle bold was bent, 
Two Scotch Earls of an ancient race. 



OF FLODDON. 113 

DXXIV. 

One Crawford called, the other Montross, 
Who led twelve thousand Scotchmen strong, 

Who manfully met with their foes, 
With leaden mells and lances long. 

DXXV. 

Their battering blows made solid sound, 
There many a sturdy stroke was given ; 

And many a baron brought to ground, 
And many a banner broad was riven. 

DXXVI. 

But yet, in fine, through mighty force 

The Admiral quit himself so well, 
And wrought so, that the Scots had worst. 

For down in field both Earls they fell. 

DXXVII. 

Now the Earl Surrey next by east, 

Most fiercely 'gainst his foes he fought ; 

'Gainst whom King James, in battle prest, 
With banners blazed, his battle brought. 

DXXVIII. 

Under which was many a baron bold, 

And many a lord of lusty blood ; 
And trusty knights well tried and told ; 

With mitred prelates passing proud, 
Q 



114 THE BATTLE 

DXXIX. 

With the Earl of Caithness and Cassel, 
The Earl of Morton and of Mar ; 

With Errol, Addel], and Atholl, 

With Bothwell bold and of Glencalr. 

DXXX. 

Lord Lovett led a lusty power, 
So Clustone, Inderby, and Ross ; 

Lord Maxwell, with his brethern four, 
Lord Borthwick, Bargeny, and Forbes. 

DXXXI. 

Lord Erskine, Sinclair, and Sempel, 
With them well tried a mighty sum ; 

All with the king came down the hill, 
With Cawell, Kay, and Caddy Hume, 

DXXXII. 

With Captains great and commons stout, 
'Bove twenty thousand men at least, 

All with the king most fierce on foot, 
Against their foes themselves addrest, 

DXXXIII. 

Now the Earl of Surrey on the English side 

Encouraged his soldiers keen, 
Crying, " Good fellows, strike this tide, 

" Let now your valiant acts be seen." 



OF FLODDON. 1 15 

DXXXIV. 

Then spears and pikes to work were put, 
And blows with cutting axes dealt. 

Then towering helmets through were cut, 
That some their wounds scarce ever felt. 

DXXXV. 

On one side death triumphant reigned 
And stopt their pains as well as groans ; 

Of those who piercing wounds had gained, 
The hills did eccho with the moans. 

DXXXVI. 

Then on the Scottish part right proud 
The Earl of Bothwell did out-burst, 

And stepping forth with stomach good; 
Unto the English fierce did thrust. 

DXXXVII. 

And " Bothwell Bqthwell," cried bold, 

To cause his soldiers to ensue ; 
But there he catched a welcome cold ; 

A valiant Englishman him slew. 

DXXXVIII. 

Thus Herbert, through his haughty heart 

His fatal end in conflict found ; 
Now all this while, on either part, 

Was dealt full many a deadly wound. 



116 THE BATTLE 

DXXX1X. 

On either side were soldiers slain 

And stricken down with strength of hand, 
That who should win, none could say plain, 

The victory in doubt did stand. 



Of FLODDON. 117 



FJT IX. 



DXL. 

But at the last great Stanley stout, 
Came marching up the mountain steep; 

His folks could hardly fast their feet, 
Forced on hands and knees to creep. 

DXLI. 

Some from the leg the boot would draw, 
That loose it might take the better hold, 

Some from the foot the shoe would thraw ; 
Thus of true men I have been told. 

DXL1I. 

The sweat down from their bodies ran, 
And hearts did hop in panting breast, 

Until the mountain-top they wan, 
In warlike-wise ere Scotsmen wist. 

DXLIII. 

Where for a while brave Stanley staid, 
Until his folks had taken breath ;_ 

To whom at last even thus he said, 

" Most hardy mates, down from this heath, 



118 THE BATTLE 

DXLIV. 

u Against our foes fast let us hye, 
" Our valiant countrymen to aid ; 

u With fighting fierce, much fear have I, 
" Lest that they should be overlaid. 

DXLV. 

" My Lancashire most lively wights, 

" And chosen men from Cheshire strong ; 

" With sounding bow your feathered flights 
" Let fiercely fly your foes among. 

DXLVI. 

" March down from this high mountain-top, 
" And brunt of battle let us bide 

" With stomach stout, let us make no stop, 
" Stanley will be to you a guide. 

DXLVII. 

" A scourge for Scots my father was, 

" He Berwick town from them did gain; 

u No doubt but ere this day shall pass, 
" His son like fortune shall obtain. 

DXLVIII. 

" And now the Earl of Surrey sore 
" The Scots, I see, beset this tide ; 

" But since with foes he fights before, 
" We will suddenly set on the side." 



OF FLODDON. 119 

DXLIX. 

The noise then made the mountains ring, 
And " Stanley stout/' they all did cry : 

Out went anon the grey-goose wing, 

And amongst the Scots did fluttering fly. 

DL. 

And though the Scots at Stanley's name 
Were stonished sore, yet stout they stood ; 

And for defence did fiercely frame, 
A narrow dint of dangerous bode. 

DLL 

Lord Borthwick, Bargeny, and Forbes, 

With them ten thousand Scotsmen strong; 

Endured death through danger's force, 
Alas ! for them, they staid too long. 

DLII. 

Which when Lord Stanley stout did see, 
Into the throng, he thundering thrust; 

" My Lancashire brave lads," quoth he, 
" Down with the Scots this day we must." 

DL1II. 

Then foes he forced to break their ray, 
And many a life was lost that while, 

No voice was heard but kill and slay, 
Down goes the Scots Earl of Argyle. 



100 THE BATTLE 

DL1V. 

The Earl of Lenox, luck had like, 

He slain was fighting fierce that tide t 

Lord Forbes, Bargeny, and Borthwick, 
Upon that bent did breathless bide. 

DLV. 

And so the Earl of Huntley's hap 
Had been resembled to the rest, 

But that through skill he made escape, 
AVith an English blade he had been blest. 

DLVI. 

For having near a horse at hand, 
On him he scouring 'scaped away, 

Else doubtless, as the case did stand, 
On Floddon-hill he had died that day. 

DLVII. 

After these Lords were dead or fled, 
And companies left captainless ; 

Their soldiers then did fly with speed : 
With souls of horror and distress. 

BLVI1I. 

Whom Stanley, with his total strength 

Swiftly pursues unto the plain, 
Where, on the king he light at kngth : 

Who fighting was with all his main. 



OF FLODDON. 121 

DUX. 

When his approach the king perceived, 
With stomach stout he him withstood ; 

His Scots right bravely then behaved, 
And battle boldly there abode, 

DLX. 

Then showers of arrows fierce were shot, 
Which did each side so pierce and gaul, 

That ere they came to handy strokes, 
Great numbers on the ground did fall. 

DLXI* 

The king himself was wounded sore, 

An arrow in his forehead light, 
That he could scarce fight any more, 

The blood so blemished his sight, 

DLXII. 

" Fight on, my men," the king then said, 
" Yet fortune she may turn the scale, 

" And for my wounds be not dismayed, 
" Nor ever let your courage fail." 

DLXIII. 

Thus dying, did he brave appear 

Till shades of death did close his eyes. 

Till then he did his soldiers chear, 
And raise their courage to the skies, 



122 THE BATTLE 

DLXIV. 

But what availed his valour great 
Or bold device, it was all in vain : 

His captains keen failed at his feet, 
And standard-bearer too was slain. 

DLXV. 

The archbishop of St. Andrews brave, 
King James his son in base begot, 

That doleful day did death receive, 
With many a lusty Lord-like Scot. 

DLXVI. 

Lord Erskine, Sinclair, and Sempel, 
Morton and Fair for all their power, 

The Earl of Erroll and Atholl, 

Lord Maxwell, with his brethren four. 

DLXVII. 

And last of all, amongst the lave, 

King James himself to death gave way, 

Yet by whose hands none could perceive, 
But Stanley still most like was he. 

DLXVIII. 

After the king and captains slain, 

The commons strait did fall to ground. 

The Englishmen pursued amain, 

And never ceased till sun went down. 



OF FLO D DON". 
BLXIX. 

Then the Earl Surrey caused to sound 

A trumpet to retreat anon ; 
And captains caused to keep their ground, 

Till morrow next while night was gone. 

DLXX. 

And the English soldiers all that night, 
Although they weary were with toil ; 

Of Scotsmen costly slain in fight, 
Of jewels rich spared not to spoil. 

DLXXI. 

The carcase of the king himself 
Naked was left as it was found, 

The Earl could not know it right, 

Searching the same upon the ground. 

DLXXII. 

Till the Lord Dacres, at the last, 

By certain signs did know the king ; 

His corps in a cart being placed 
They to Newcastle did it bring. 

DLXXIII. 

Twelve thousand Scots it seems were slain, 
Of English but five thousand fell; 

But fifteen hundred, others plain, 
As words can make it, to us tell. 



124 THE BATTLE 

DLXXIV. 

Great store of guns were likewise taken, 
Amongst the rest seven culverines ; 

Seven sisters called, which do remain, 
To be talked of to latest times. 

DLXXV. 

King Janjes's body was embalmed, 
Sweet, like a king, and then was sent 

To Shene in Surrey, where intombed, 
Some say there is now a monument. 

DLXXVI. 

But Bryan Tunstall, that brave knight, 
A never-dying honour gains ; 

And will, as long as day and night, 
Or as this little book remains. 

DLXXVII. 

Thus have you heard of Floddon fight, 
Worthy of each to be commended ; 

Because that then old England's right 
Was bravely by her sons defended. 



NOTES 

TO THE 

BATTLE OF FLODDON 



N. denotes words that are spoken in the N'ortB. 



Page i. 

The First Fit, i. e. the First Division, or Part. See Dr. Percy's 
ingenious note in the Reliques of Anc. Eng. Poetry, Vol. II. p. 166. 

Stanza I. Cease. Perhaps the Author means omit > forbear. 
Cease, omitto. Litt. Diet. 

6. Great Howard.] Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, was 
knighted for his remarkable courage at the battle of Barnet. He 
was made Knight of the Garter, i Ric. III. He was taken prison- 
er in the battle of Bosworth, and committed to the Tower by Hen. 
VII. and attainted by parliament. K. Henry asked him, how he 
durst bear arms in behalf of that tyrant Richard; to which he 
answered, " He was my crowned King, and if the parliamentary 
authority of England set the crown upon a stock, I will fight for 
that stock ; and as I fought then for him, I will fight for you, when 
you are established by the said authority." In the rebellion against 
the King, by the Earl of Lincoln, the Lieutenant of the Tower of- 
fered the Earl of Surrey the keys of the Tower, in order to set 
himself at liberty; but he replied, "That he would not be deli- 
vered by any power, but by that which had committed him/* 
After he had been in prison three years and a half, the King gave 
him his liberty ; and knowing his worth and nice sense of honour. 



126 NOTES. 

he took him into favour, and delivered up to him all his estates. 
The Earl took all occasions of relieving the oppressed subjects; 
and was accounted one of the ablest and greatest men in the king- 
dom. The Scots made an irruption into England, and besieged 
Norham-castle : The Earl raised the siege, took the castle of Ay- 
ton, and made all the country round a desart. James IV. of Scot- 
land, incensed at this, sent a herald with a challenge to him, to 
which he made a sensible and spirited answer; u That his life be- 
longed to the King, whilst he had the command of his army ; but 
when that was ended, that he would fight the King on horseback, 
or on foot ; adding, that, if he took the King prisoner in the com- 
bat, he would release him without any ransom ; and that if the 
King should vanquish him, he would then pay such a sum for his 
liberty, as was competent for the degree of an Earl." A. 1501, the 
Earl was Lord High Treasurer. In June, 1502, Margaret, the 
King's daughter, a beautiful Princess, at the age of fourteen years, 
was attended by the Earl of Surrey, with a great company of 
Lords, Ladies, Knights, and Squires, to the town of Berwick, 
whence she was conveyed to St. Lambert's church in Lamyrmoor, 
where K. James, attended by the chief nobility, received her, and 
carried her to Edinburgh. The next day after her arrival there, 
she was with great solemnity married unto him, in the presence 
of all his nobles. The King gave great entertainments to the 
English, whom the Scotch noblemen and ladies far outshone, both 
in costly apparel, rich jewels, massy chains, habiliments set with 
goldsmith's work, garnished with pearl, and stones of price, 
and in gallant and well trapped horses. They made also great 
feasts for the English Lords and Ladies, and showed them just- 
ing, and other pleasant pastimes, as good as could be devised after 
the manner of Scotland. Diverse Ladies of (^Margaret's train 
remained in Scotland, and were afterwards well married to No- 
blemen. Les/y. Holinshed. 

Q^ Margaret's portion was io,oool. Her jointure from K. 
James 2000I. a year, and she received pin-money from him annu- 
ally, 331I. 6s. 8d. 



NOTES. 12J 

In 1507, two years before the death of Hen. VII. the Earl was 
Embassador to the K. of France. 1 Hen. VIII. He was made 
Earl Marshal for life. A. 1511, he was one of the Commissioners 
at the Court of Arragon. When Hen. VIII. heard, that the Scots 
were preparing to invade England, he said, " That he had left a 
Nobleman who would defend his subjects from insults." After 
the battle of Floddon, the Earl himself presented K. James's ar- 
mour to the Queen Regent. When the King returned from 
France, he gave the Earl an augmentation of his arms, viz. to bear 
on the bend the upper part of a Red Lion, depicted in the same 
manner as the arms of Scotland, pierced through the mouth with 
an arrow. A. 1514, the Earl was created Duke of Norfolk, and a 
grant was given him in special tail of several manors. He hated, 
and opposed Cardinal Wolsey, because he advised the King to 
pursue measures hurtful to the liberties of the people. Finding 
that this opposition availed nothing, he resigned his port, and reti- 
red from Court. He died A. 1524. 

13. Teen. Harm ', injury, N. 

18. Mack, or make. Match, equal. Mackless, matchless. N. 

18. Latham-house, near Ormskirk, in Lancashire, is famous for 
sustaining a siege of two years, against the Parliament-army, being 
most gallantly defended by a lady, Charlotte, Countess of Derby; 
who never could be brought to capitulate, but maintained the 
place, till Prince Rupert came with the King's forces, and com- 
pelled the enemy to raise their siege, A. 1644. 

37. In the old ballad, entitled Sir Andrew Barton, the bowman 
who shot Sir Andrew, is by a mistake called Horsely. It was a 
Yorkshire gentleman that killed him, of the name of Hustler. 

The last male descendant of that ancient and opulent family, 
James Hustler, Esq. of Acklam Hall, in Cleveland, near Stock- 
ton, was buried in a grand manner, A. 1768. 

39. Tour warden,] Sir Robert Carr was made by James IV. his 
chief butler, engineer, and warden of the middle marches. He 
was much esteemed by the King for his virtuous qualities. He 
was a severe punisher of the English and Scotch border-robbers, 



128 NOTES. 

therefore they were determined to destroy him. At a solemn 
meeting between the English and Scotch, in order to reclaim 
stolen goods, altercations arose, when three desperate Englishmen, 
John Heron the Bastard, Lilburn, and Starhed, fell upon him; 
one of whom stabbed him with a spear in the back, and the other 
two dispatched him. Henry VII. enraged at this villainous ac- 
tion, delivered John Heron, Laird of Ford, brother to the Bastard, 
and Lilburn to the Scots, who imprisoned them in Fastcastle 
Tower in the Mers, where the latter died. • The Bastard and 
Starhed hid themselves in the interior parts of England, until the 
reign of Henry VIII. when the Bastard, trusting to the power of 
his relations, appeared openly at his own house, and privately sent 
thieves into Scotland to disturb the peace. Starhed thought him- 
self safe, having built a house at the distance of ninety miles from 
the Border. But Andrew Carr, the son of Sir Robert, prevailed 
upon two of his dependants, of the name of Tate, to disguise 
themselves, who entered Starhed's house in the night, and brought 
away his head to Andrew, who fixed it in one of the most conspi- 
cuous places of the city of Edinburgh. 

The Bastard flourished many years, till A. t'5^4, when he, with 
900 Englishmen entered the marches of Scotland. After a stout 
battle with the Scots, 300 Englishmen were taken prisoners, and 
the Bastard slain. Holinsbed. 

Others write, that 300 Scots were taken, ami that the rest fled. 
And that Sir Ralph Fenwick, Leonard Musgrave, and the Bastard, 
with thirty other horsemen, having pursued the Scots too far, 
were overcome by them. Fenwick, Musgrave, and six others 
being taken prisoners, and the Bastard killed: whose death the 
Scots thought to be a very ample recompence for the loss of their 
aoo men. Hall. 

Which of these two contrary accounts are we to believe ? If we 
estimate, by the price, the credit of the old chronicle of Holinshed 
printed in 1586, we shall have no mean opinion of it ; for his his- 
tory is sold by the booksellers for 61. 16s. 6d. 

47. Millners. Millers are now so called about Leeds. 



NOTES. 129 

49. Bodword. An ominous message, Bodwords are now used to 
express ill-natured errands, N. 

51. A half moon , &c] The silver crescent is the badge of the 
Percys, supposed to have been assumed by one of that noble fami- 
ly, who had been in an expedition, against the Saracens, in the 
Holy Land. Vide Dr. Percy's note. Rel. of Anc. English Poetry. 
Vol. I. p. 227, 2d Edition. 

57. Lave. The rest. N. 

58. Dun bulls were the supporters of the arms of Nevil, Earl of 
Westmoreland. 

60. Earl of Westmoreland.] It is remarkable that the last Nevil, 
Earl of Westmoreland, was one of the most unfortunate, and the 
first Earl one of the happiest men in the world; both with respect 
to his vast possessions, his grand alliance by marriage, the number 
of his children, and the high honours to which they arrived. 

Ralph, Lord Nevil, of Raby Castle, in the County of Durham, 
commonly called the great Earl of Westmoreland, obtained this 
title from Richard II. A. 1397. He had twenty children. 

By his first wife, Margaret, nine. 

1. John, his eldest son, Lord Nevil, &c. 

2. Ralph, in the right of Mary his wife, Lord Ferrars, of Ously. 

3. Maud, married to Peter, Lord Mauley. 

4. Alice, married to Sir Thomas Gray. 

5. Philippa, married to Thomas, Lord Dacres, of Gilsland. 

6. Margaret, married to the Lord Scroope, of Bolton. 

7. Ann, married to Sir Gilbert Humfreville. 

8. Margerie, Abbess of Barking. 

9. Elizabeth, a Nun. 

By his second wife, Joan, daughter of John of Gaunt, sister of 
the Duke of Exeter, and the Bishop of Winchester, and half-sister 
of Hen. IV. he had eleven children. 

1. Richard, Earl of Salisbury. 

% William, in the right of Joan his wife, Lord Faulconbridge. 

3. George, Lord Latimer. 

4. Edward, Lord Abergavenny. 

S 



IJ° NOTES. 

5. Robert, Bishop of Durham. 

6. Thomas, in the right of his wife, lord Seymour. 

7. Catharine, married to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. 

8. Eleanor, married to Henry, Earl of Northumberland. 

9. Ann, married to Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham. 

10. Jane, a Nun. 

ii. Cicely, married to Richard, Duke of York, and mother to 
King Edward IV. 

Concerning the above-mentioned Bishop of Winchester, I shall 
give the reader an extract from a sermon of Bishop Latimer, 
preached before King Edward VI. A. 1549. 

" There was a bishop of Winchester, in King Henry VI.'s days, 
which King was but a child, and yet were there many good acts 
made in his childhood, and I do not read that they were broken. 
This Bishop was a great man born, and did bear such a stroke, 
that he was able to shoulder the Lord Protector. Well; it 
chanced, that the Lord Protector and he fell out, and the Bishop 
would bear nothing at all with him, but played me the Satrapa, so 
that the Regent of France was fain to be sent for, from beyond 
the seas, to set them at one, and to go between them. For the 
Bishop was as able to buckle with the Lord Protector, as he was 
with him. Was not this a good prelate ? He should have been at 
home a preaching in his Diocese in a wanian. This Protector was 
so noble and godly a man, that he was called of every man, the 
good Duke Humphrey. He kept such a house, as never was kept 
since in England, without any enhancing of rents I warrant you, 
or any such matter. And the Bishop, for standing so stiffly by the 
matter, and bearing up the order of our mother, the holy church, 
was made Cardinal at Calais, and thither the Bishop of Rome sent 
him a Cardinal's hat. He should have had a Tyburn-tippet, a 
half- penny halter, and all such proud prelates. These Romish 
hearts never brought good into England. 

" Upon this, the Bishop goeth me to the Queen Margaret, the 
King's wife, a proud woman, and a stout, and persuaded her, that 
if the Duke were in such authority still, and lived, the people 



NOTES. 131 

would honour him more than they did the king, and the king 
should not be set by ; and so between them, I cannot tell how it 
came to pass, but at St. Edmunds Bury, in a parliament, the good 
Duke Humphrey was smothered." 

A. 1414, the Earl of Westmoreland was Warden of the Marches, 
and was said to have been a man of great gravity, wisdom, and ex- 
perience. He died A. 1425, and was buried in the Cathedral 
church of Durham, on the south side of it, between two pillars. 
On the top of a square tomb, lie the effigies of himseif and his lady 
in alabaster. On the four sides thereof are carved eighteen of his 
children ; one of which seems to represent Robert, Bishop of Dur- 
ham, by a canonical habit, and his hands elevated in a supplicating 
posture. 

This monument, and that of his son John, the second Earl of 
Westmoreland, near to it, were defaced by the Scots, of whom 
4500 after the battle of Dunbar were imprisoned in the Cathedral. 

The Earl of Westmoreland earnestly petitioned the prior and 
convent, that they would suffer him to be buried under the same 
roof, with St. Cuthbert. This high honour was granted to him, 
the first layman, that ever obtained it, in consideration of the 
many magnificent presents given by him and his Countess to that 
saint. 

The grand Anthony Beck, who commonly had in his retinue 
140 knights, was the first Bishop that was buried in the church of 
Durham. 

Charles, the last Earl of Westmoreland, of this name of Nevil, 
after his unsuccessful rebellion against Que?n Elizabeth, by which 
he forfeited an estate of 30,0001 per annum, fled into Flanders, 
where he lived in penury, upon a small, and ili-pail pension given 
to him by the King of Spain. He died miserably, according to 
Speed, affected with ulcers,rA. 1584. 

Pilkinton, Bishop of Durham, commenced a suit against Queen 
Elizabeth for the Earl of Westmoreland's goods and estate lying 
within his diocese. But the Queen prevailed, because, at a great 
expense, she had protected the Bishoprick, and the Bishop against 



13^ NOTES. 

the rebels, who sought for his two infant daughters to kill them. 
But they escaped, being conveyed away in beggar's cloaths. 

The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth had each of them a portion 
of io,oool. left to them by the will of their father, Henry VIII. of 
which there is a MS. copy in the library of Caius and Gonville 
college in Cambridge. 

Queen Elizabeth being told that Dr. Pilkinton had given 
io,oocl. in marriage with his daughter, was highly offended, that 
a prelate's daughter should dare to have a portion equal to that of 
a Princess, and therefore she took away from the Bishoprick of 
Durham ioool. a year, and gave it to the garrison of Berwick, for 
their better maintenance. 

Of the above-named family of Nevil, it hath been observed, 
that there were six Earls of Westmoreland. Two Earls of Salis- 
bury and Warwick. An Earl of Kent. A Marquis of Montague. 
A Duke of Bedford, Baron Ferrars of Ously. Barons of Lati- 
mer, and Barons of Abergavenny. One Queen. Five Duchesses. 
Not to mention Countesses, Baronesses, and a numerous race of 
nobles. Of this family also was George Nevil, Archbishop of 
York, famous for the prodigious feast which he made at his instal- 
lation about the year 1470, In the bill of fare are 4000 woodcocks, 
4000 cold venison pasties, 8 seals, and 4 porpoises. About seven 
years after, he made another feast for Edward IV. who seized on 
all his estate, and sent him over a prisoner to Calais, in France, 
where he was kept bound in extreme poverty. 

An ancestor of the Nevils was named Hugh, who attended 
Richard I. into the holy war, and was one of his great favourites. 
This Hugh Nevil slew a lion in the holy land, first driving an ar- 
row into his breast, and then running him through with a sword. 
This verse was made upon him : 

Viribus Hugonis, vires periere Leonis. 

The strength of Hugh 
A lion slew. 



NOTES. 133 

He was buried about the year 1220, under a marble monument 
in the church of Waltham- Abbey in Essex. 

Amongst the Normans, who came into England with William 
the Conqucrer, we find the name of Nevil, in a roll of Battel 
Abby. 

After the account given of the felicity of the first Earl of West- 
moreland, I shall entertain the reader, with a short history, not 
less extraordinary, of a Countess of Shrewsbury, a beautiful, wise, 
and most fortunate Lady, Elizabeth, daughter of John Hardwick, 
of Hardwick, in Derbyshire, Esq. ; by the death of her brother a 
co-heiress. Before she was fourteen years of age, she married 
Robert Barley, in Derbyshire, Esq. a young gentleman of a large 
estate, all which he settled upon her, on their marriage. By his 
death, she continued a widow twelve years, and then married 
William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, Esq. by whom she had, — 1. 
Henry, who was possessed of considerable estates in Derbyshire, 
but settled at Tutbury, in Staffordshire. 2. William, the first 
Earl of Devonshire. 3. Charles, who was settled at Welbeck, in 
Nottinghamshire, father of William, Duke of Newcastle; and 
three daughters,— 1. Frances, who married Sir Henry Pierpoint, 
of Holm-Pierpoint, in Nottinghamshire, from whom the Dukes of 
Kingston are descended. 2. Elizabeth, who married Charles 
Stuart, Earl of Lenox, younger brother to the father of King 
James I. by whom she was the mother of that incomparable lady, 
Arabella, so nearly related to the crown, that she was sacrificed in 
the Tower. 3. Mary. After the death of Sir William Caven- 
dish, which happened, A. 1557, this lady rejected many offers, and 
then married Sir William St Lowe, captain of the guard to Queen 
Elizabeth, who had a large estate in Gloucestershire, which in the 
marriage- articles she took care should be settled on her, and her 
own heirs, in default of issue. And accordingly, having no child by 
him, she lived to enjoy his whole estate, excluding as v/ell his bro- 
thers, who were heirs-male, as his own female issue by a former 
lady. In this third widowhood, the charms of her wit and beau- 
ty captivated the greatest snbjedl in the kingdom, George Talbot, 



134 NOTES. 

Earl of Shrewsbury, whom she brought to terms of the highest 
honour and advantage to herself and her children. For he not 
only gave her a large jointure, but also consented to an union of 
their families, by taking Mary her youngest daughter, to be the 
wife of Gilbert his second son, and afterwards his heir, and also by 
giving the Lady Grace, his youngest daughter, to Henry her 
eldest son. A. 1590, she was a fourth time left, and continued 
to her death a widow. 

Here was a change of conditions that never fell before to any 
one woman. She was four times a happy wife. She rose by each 
husband, into greater wealth and honours. She had an unani- 
mous issue by one husband only. All her six children, by her 
advice, were highly disposed of in marriage; and after all, she 
lived seventeen years a widow, in absolute power and abundance. 

This lady built three of the most elegant seats that ever were 
raised by one hand, in one county, Chatsworth, Hardwick, and 
Oldcotes. She was seventeen years keeper of Mary Queen of 
Scots. She died A. 1607, aged about fourscore and seven years, 
and was buried in Allhallows church in Derby, under a fair tomb, 
which she had erected in her own lifetime, and whereon a re- 
markable Latin epitaph was afterwards inscribed. 

St, Austin, Magnus Opinator, a maintainer of strange doctrines, 
says, " Successus humanse felicitatis aeternae damnationis indicium 
est ;" The success of human felicity is the sign of eternal damna- 
tion. With this opinion of the holy father, the poor, the miserable, 
and the afflicted, will try to comfort themselves, when they sur- 
vey the worldly prosperity of the great. 

6a. Habergeon. The diminutive of Haubert, (French) a little 
coat of mail. 

72. Gisarings. Halberts. Derived from the French Guharme, 
a kind of offensive long-handled, and long-headed weapon; or as 
the Spanish Visarma, a staff that hath within it two long pikes, 
which with a shoot or thrust forward, come forth. 

An ancient statute of William King of Scotland, " de 
Venientibus ad Guerram," ch. 23, saith, «« Et qui minus habet 



NOTES. 135 

quam quadraginta solidos terrae, habeat Gysarum quod dicitur 
band-bill, arcum et sagittam." And a statute of Edward I. " Et 
que miens a de quarante sols de terre, soit jure a Fauchions, 

Every knight 
Twa javelins, spears, or than Gisarm staves. 

Gav. Douglass. 

Ducange, in his Glossary, renders this word by securis, and de- 
rives it from the Gesum of the Gauls. 
75. Could take, an idiom or phrase for took, N. 

79. In, for into. N. 

80. Loons. Rascals. N. 

83. Gascoign. Sir William Gascoign, Chief Justice of the 
King's Bench, committed the Prince of Wales, afterwards Hen- 
ry V. to prison, for insulting and, as it is said, for striking him on 
the Bench. See Shakespear, ad Part of Hen. IV. 

He died, Dec. 17, 1413, and lies buried in Harwood church in 
Yorkshire. His monument is still to be seen, on which is his ef- 
figy at length, in his judge's robes, with his hood on, and a large 
purse fastened to his girdle on his left side, and a long dagger on 
the right, near which is represented one of his wives. 

86. Road; i. e. inroad. The word raid is now used in Scot- 
land in that sense. 

121. Portals perhaps mean portcullices. 

Cannon were at first made of iron bars, soldered together, and 
encompassed with hoops. One of this kind, called Mons-meg, 
capable of holding within it tw$ persons, was lately carried from 
Edinburgh-castle to London. They were also made occassional!)- 
of leather, lined with plates of brass. Brass cannon were first 
founded by one Owen an Englishman. The cannon originally 
were very large ; the gun-powder in use at that time being weak. 
A French historian, who died about the year 140a, says, that they 
were fifty feet long. The size of them was greatly lessened, after 
the art of making strong gun-powder was found out. 



I36 NOTES 

There is in Norham an iron ball of sixty pound weight, which 
was dug out of the ground at Sandy-bank, probably left there by 
the English army, in their way from Barmoor-wood to Twiscl- 
bridge. 

With regard to muskets ; Brantome says, that the Spanish foot 
6old»ers were the first who were armed with them, and that they 
were the best infantry in Europe. 

Muskets were then called band-cannon. The Duke of Orleans 
had many of them in his army, A. 1411. At the siege of Arras, 
A. 1414, the besieged killed a great number of men with leaden 
musket-shot. It is said that the first time that muskets were used 
in Britain was at the siege of Berwick, A. 1521. 

125. Busked, dressed. N. 

137. Lave, the rest", croud. N. 

127. William, Archbishop of St Andrew's, was natural son of 
James IV. by Margaret daughter of Archibald Boyd, of Bonshaw, 
and born 1495. He was well educated by his father, who sent 
him abroad, attended with a travelling governor. Vid. Epist. 
Jac. IV. 

He was a most accomplished youth, handsome, tall, and genteel, 
endued with excellent parts, great sweetness of temper, virtue, 
prudence, liberality. He was skilled in the civil law, Latin, Greek, 
and music. The elegant pen of Erasmus, who was one of his pre- 
ceptors at Sienna in Italy, has set his incomparable character in 
such an amiable light, that tlje reader will be pleased with the 
sight of it here. 

Caesus est una cum fortissimo patre filius, et filius eo patre dignis- 
simus, Gulielmus Archiepiscopus, titulo DM Andreae, juvenis qui- 
dem viginti ferme natus annos, sed in quo nullum consummati viri 
laudem desiderares. Mira formse gratia, mira dignitas, heroica pro- 
ceritas, ingenium placidissimum quidem illud, sed tamen ad cog- 
nitionem omnium disciplinarum acerrimum. Nam mihi fuit 
cum eo quondam in urbe Senensi domestica consuetudo, quo 
tempore a nobis in rhetorum praeceptis, Graecanicisque Uteris ex- 
ercebatur. Deum Immortalem ? quam velox, quam felix, quam 



NOTES. 137 

ad ^uodvis sequax ingenium, quam multa simul complecti poterat. 
Eodem tempore discebat jureconsultorum literas, nee eas admo- 
dum gratas, ob admixtam barbariem, et odiosam interpretum 
verbositatem. Audiebat dicendi praecepta, et praescripto themate 
declamabat, pariter et calamum exercens et linguam. Discebat 
Graece, et quotidie quod traditum fuerat, stato reddebat tempore. 
Horis pomeridianis, musicis operam dabat, monochordiis, tibiis, 
testudini. Modulabatur et voce nonnunquam. Ne ipsum quidem 
convivii tempus studiorum vacabat fructu. Sacrificus perpetuo 
salutarem aliquem librum recitabat, puta decreta pontificum, aut 
Divum Hieronymum aut Ambrosium. Nee unquam recitantis 
vox interrumpebatur, nisi si quid alteruter doctorum, inter quos 
medius accumbebat, admonuisset, aut ipse parum assequens, quod 
legebatur, sciscitatus esset aliquid. Rursum a convivio fabulae, 
sed breves, et hae quoque Uteris conditae. Proinde nulla omnino 
pars vacabat studio, nisi quae rei Divinas, somnoque daretur. 
Nam etiamsi quid superfuisset temporis, quod tarn variis studio- 
rum vicibus non suppetebat, tamen si quid forte supererat, id 
Historicorum lectioni dabat. Nam hac cognitione praccipue ca- 
piebatur. His itaque rebus fadlum est, ut adolescentulus, vix 
dum decimum odtavum egressus annum, tantum in omni litera- 
rum genere consecutus fuerit, quantum in quovis viro jure mire- 
ris. Nee illud in hoc usu venit, quod fere solet in aliis, ut ad lite- 
ras felix, ad bonos mores minus esset appositus. Verecundi mores 
erant, sic tamen ut miram agnosceres prudentiam. Animus sub- 
limis, et a sordidis istis affectibus procul semotus, sed ita, ut nihil 
adesset ferocitatis, nihil fastidii. Nihil non sentiebat, permulta 
dissimulabat,*nec unquam ad iracundiam poterat incitari. Tanta 
erat naturae lenitas, animique moderatio. Salibus impendio delec- 
tabatur, sed eruditis, ac minime dentatis. Hoc est non nigro 
Momi, sed candido Mercurii sale tindtis. Si quid turbas domi 
natum fuisset, inter famulos, mirum quanta dexteritate quantoque 
candore solitus sit componere. Denique religionis erat et pietatis 
plurimum, superstition! s nihil. In summa nemo fuit dignior qui 
ex Rege, et ex illo Rege nasceretur. Utinam autem in parentem 

T 



I38 NOTES. 

pietas quam fuit admirabilis, tarn fuisset et felix. Comitatus est 
in bellum, ne usquam patri deesset. Quaeso quid tibi cum Ma- 
vorte, omnium poeticorum Deorum stupidissimo, qui Musis, imo 
qui Christo eras initiatus ? Quid isti formae, quid isti aetati, quid 
naturae tarn mid, quid ingenio tarn candido, cum taratantaris, 
bombardis, et fetro? Denique quid erudito cum acie, quid Epis- 
copo cum armis ? Imposuit nimirum tibi immodica qusedam in 
parentem pietas, dumque nimium fortiter amas patrem, infeliciter 
cum patre csesus occubuisti. Tot naturae dotes, tot virtutes, tot 
eximias spes, unica pugnae procella absorbuit. Periit et nostrarum 
rerum nonnihil. Nempe quod in erudiendo te sumpsimus operae, 
quodque mea partum industria mihi in te vindico. At quantus 
felicitatis cumulus, nisi genius aliquis malus regem hue impulisset, 
utregni sui limites egressus, in alienis agris cum ferocissima gente 
Martem experiri vellet. 

By a dispensation from the Pope, the King created him Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrew's, 1509, and he made him his Chancellor, 
151 1. He was also made the Pope's Legate a Latere. 

It was not unusual, in ancient times, for the dignitaries of the 
church to attend their King in the wars. They were bound to 
do it by the Feudal law. They held the temporalities of their be- 
nefices of the King, as barons, by the tenure of military service. 
It appears from many grants to the clergy, that, according to the 
establishment of the church of Scotland, the clerical and military 
character were not inconsistent. 

Edward III. 1368, ordered all the clergy to take up arms. 

131. Shored cross, f. e . propped. Upon one of the Scotch flags is 
painted St. Andrew's Cross, with the saint standing behind it, 
supporting the upper part of the cross with his hands. 

Ibid. Trimon of Quhytehorn, read Ninian of Quhytehorn. 

Many pilgrims resorted on the 16th day of September to the se- 
pulchre of St. Ninian in the church of Whithorn. 

The Queen of James IIL undertook this pilgrimage, A. 1474. 
The following article is in the accounts of the Treasurer of Scot- 
land. Item, to Andrew Balfour, aoth August, 1474, for livery- 



NOTES. I39 

gowns to six ladies of the Queen's chamber, at her passing to 
Quhytehorn, ai ells of gray, fra David Gill, price iol. 10s. Scots. 

The historian, Hawthornden, says, that James IV. upon his 
Queen being dangerously ill in childbed, 1507, went a pilgrimage 
on foot to St. Ninian's, at Whithorn, in Galloway. In this jour- 
ney he fell in love with Lady Jean Kennedy, a daughter of the Earl 
of Cassils; and he confined the Earl of Angus, for some time, to 
the island of Arran, for carrying her away. At Whithorn, which 
was a Bishop's see, there was a priory founded before the year 
1 1 26, by Fergus, Lord of Galloway. 

Ibid. Doffin Demigod, &c. read Dutback, Demigod of Ross. 
He was a Bishop, and a Confessor, and lived at Tayne, in Ross- 
shire. In the old breviary of Aberdeen, there is an office and le- 
gend of this saint, which enumerates the miracles wrought by him; 
and mentions particularly that of his augmenting the quantity of 
victuals. 

There is a church dedicated to him, to which there was a great 
i resort of pilgrims on his feast-day, March 8, often spoken of by the 
Scotch historians. 

A. 1507. King James made many progresses through Scotland, 
holding courts, redressing grievances, punishing offenders ; so that 
the country became so peaceable, that he ventured to ride, without 
any attendant, 130 miles, August 30, in one day, from Stirling, by 
Perth, and Aberdeen to Elgin, where he lay all night, without 
going to bed, upon a bare table, at the house of Thomas Lesly, 
parson of Elgin. He rose early the next morning, and rode 40 
miles to St. Duthack's, in Ross, and was there time enough to hear 
mass, and receive the sacrament, and to visit the saint's shrine. 
August 31st, according to Holinshed, was that saint's festival-day. 
In the Edinburgh almanack, March the 8th, is St. Duthack's feast ; 
but possibly, like St. Cuthbert, he might have had two feasts in the 
year. As the reader will not think this a matter of great conse- 
quence, we will enquire no farther about it. 

This King made other pilgrimages to holy places, if not alone, 
at least on foot. 



140 NOTE;;. 

132. William Bunch, Abbot of Kilwinning. Lawrence Oliphant, 
Abbot of Incheffray. 

The reader will observe, in abundance of places, how industri- 
ously the Poet brings into his verses, words which begin with the 
same letter, and here in this stanza, the frequent recurrence of the 
letter B. 

It is not easy to find out, nor is it worth while to inquire, at 
what time alliterative verses were first used. The Germans, or 
Goths, do not seem entitled to the honour of inventing them. 
Camerarius cites the following very old verse,— 

Fraxinu' fixa ferox infesta infunditur ossis. 
We read in Plautus, 

Optumo optume optumam operam das. 

Amphit. 
Nemo solus satis sapit. Mil. Glor. 

Optatianus Porphyrius wrote an epistle to the Emperor Con- 
stantine in alliterative metre, A. D. 326, which several poets of 
the middle age imitated. 

These alliterations fell into disuse in England, in the 16th cen- 
tury, so that we m3y reasonably conclude that this poem was not 
written later than the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Vide Stanza 3. 
See Dr. Percy's learned Essay on Alliterative Metre, Rel. of Anc. 
Eng. Poetry, Vol. II. p. 268. 

If we consider the very great difficulty of writing in this kind of 
metre, and at the same time in alternate rhyme, we shall find more 
harmony, and fewer improper, and unmeaning words, in this 
Poem than we could have expected. - 

We are told, that before Walker's time, men rhymed indeed, 
and that was all ; that their poetry was made up of monosyllables, 
that it was downright prose, tagged with rhymes ; that the verses 
ran all into one another, and hung together, like the hooked atoms 
of Des Cartes,— having no distinction of parts, no regular stops, 
nothing for the ear to rest upon; and that, if we are somewhat 



NOTES. " I4I 

dubious in this matter, we may read Dr. Donne, who will fully 
convince us of the truth of this assertion. We may easily grant 
that his lines are harsh, and untuneable ; 

— — a kind of hobbling prose, 

That limps along, and tinkles in the close. Dryden. 

But it is certainly ascribing too much to Waller, to say, that he 
removed all these faults, that he was the father of English verse, 
that he was the first that shewed us that our tongue had beauty, 
and numbers in it. For a great many copies of verses might be 
produced, written before Donne's time, little, if at all inferior in 
smoothness, to those which were made by Waller. Waller him- 
self owned, that he was indebted, for the harmony of his numbers, 
to Fairfax, who lived in the time of Queen Elizabeth, to whom he 
dedicated his translation of Tasso. 

I shall here divert the reader with a little Poem, printed about 
200 years ago, by one Gifford, a servant to Edward Cope, of Edon, 
Esq. the measure and rhymes of which are so smooth and musU 
cal, that they may be very well tolerated by modern ears. 

Sometime in France a woman dwelt, 

Whose husband being dead, 
Within a yeere, or somewhat more, 

An other did her wed. 

This good wife had of wealth great store, 

Yet was her wit but thin : 
To shew what happe to her befell, 

My muse doth now begin. 

It chaunced that a scholler poore, 

Attirde in course arraye, 
To sec his friends, that dwelt farre thence, 

From Paris tooke his way. 



14* NOTES. 

The garments were all rent and torne, 
Wherwith this wight was clad; 

And in his purse, to serve his neede, 
Not one deneere he had. 

He was constrainde to crave the alms 
Of those, which oft would give, 

His needy and his poore estate 
With something to relieve. 

This scholler, on a frostie morn, 
By chaunce came to the doore 

Of this old silly woman's house, 
Of whome wee spake before. 

The husband then was not at home : 

Hee craveth of the dame, 
Who had him in, and gave him meate, 

And askt from whence hee came. 

I came, quoth hee, from Paris' towne ; 

From Paradise ? quoth she ; 
Men call that Paradise, the place, 

Where all good soules ekal bee. 

Cham zure my vurst goodman is dere, 
Which died this other yeere ; 

Chould geve my friend a good gray groate, 
Some news of him to heare. 

Hee saw, she did mistake his wordes, 
And thought to make some glee, 

And said, your husband is in health, 
I lately did him see. 



143 



Now, by my troth, quoth shee, cham glad ; 

Good scholler, doe declare, 
Was not he wroth, because I sent 

Him from this world so bare. 

In deede, quoth he, he was disppleas'd, 
And thought it farre unmeete, 

You having all, to send him hence 
With nothing but a sheete. 

Quoth shee 5 good scholler, let me know 

When thou return'st agayne. 
He answer'd, Dame, I will be there 

Within this weeke, or twayne. 

Shee sayde, my friend, if that Iche durst 

Presume to be so bolde, 
Chould pray thee carrie him some clothes 

To keepe him from the colde. 

He said, he woulde. With all poste haste 

Into the towne shee hies ; 
Hat, doublet, shert, coate, hose, and shoes, 

Shee there for husband buyes. 

Shee praying him, in earnest sorte, 

Them safely to convey, 
Did geve him money in his purse : 

And so he went his way. 

Not halfe of halfe an howre was past, 

Ere husband hers was come. 
What newes shee heard from Paradise 

Shee told him all and some. 



144 



And farther, did to him declare, 

What tokens she had sent : 
Whereat her husband waxed wroth, 

And wond'rous ill content ; 

He calde her sotte, and doating foole ; 

And after him doth ride. 
The scholler was within a hedge, 

And him afarre espide. 

He was afrayde, and downe doth fling 

His fardell in a dike. 
The man came neere, and askt him newes 

Of one whom he did seeke, 

That bare a fardell at his backe ; 

The scholler musde a while, 
Then answering, said, such one I saw 

Passe over yonder stile. 

With hasty speede he down alightes 

And doth the scholler pray, 
Till he the man had overtane, 

So long the horse to stay. 

Untill he passed out of sight, 

Full still the scholler bides ; 
Who taking then his fardell on 

His horse, away he rides. 

When he returned, and saw himselfe 

By scholler flouted so, 
Yourselves may judge, what cheere he made. 

If he were wroth or no. 



NOTES. 145 

He sware, I think, an hundred oathes, 

At length per mundum toots, 
For that he had no shoes to vveare 

He marcht home in his bootes. 

His wife did meete him at the doore, 

Hayee cought man ? quoth shee; 
No, Dame, he sayde, he caught my horse, 

The Divel take him and thee. 

With that she laught, and clapt her hands, 

And sayde, cham glad, ich sweare ; 
For now he hath a horse to ride, 

He will be quickly there. 

When that her husband well had wayde, 

That remedy there was none, 
He takes his fortune in good parte 

And makes no farther mone. 

Now whether that this honest wife, 

Did love her first goodman, 
To such as shall peruse this tale, 

The case I leave to scan. 

132. Beagle-rods. Should be Bugle-rods, viz. the crosiers, or 
pastoral staves of Bishops, the heads of which are crooked like 
bugle, or hunting horns. 

144. Piles. In Lancashire, there is an old fort, called the Pile 
of Fouldery. Peel, as it is called in Scotland, is a small castle, 
Bastillon, or Bastle; in French, Bicocque, which Cotgrave calls a 
little paltry town, hold, or fort, not strong enough to hold out a 
siege, nor so weak as to be given up for words. 

Thus John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, who lived, A. 
1329, in his life and acts of Rob. Bruce, 

U 



146 



And at Lithgow was then a Peel, 
Meikle, and stark, and stuffed weel. 

A small ruin, near Hawick, is now called Alan Haugh Peel, and 
one at Fouldon-mill, is called the Bastle. 

A. 1482, above thirty towns, with their Bastles, were destroyed 
upon the Scotch border. Hall. 

145. It is apparent from history, that the wars between the 
English and Scotch were carried on with equal cruelty on both 
sides, so that they have no room to reproach each other on this 
subject. 

General invedlives, thrown out upon a whole nation, are odious 
and mean. They never served any good purpose. Though they 
are for the most part false, yet they produce mischievous efFedts : 
For the ignorant, who make the bulk of a people, believing every 
thing that they read in print, are deceived by them, and excited 
Unjustly to hate and injure those with whom their own safety, 
interest, and ease, require that they should live in friendship and 
peace. 

It is true, that men of sense despise those undistinguishing scur- 
rilities, and consider them as empty declamation, and always have 
a bad opinion of the honesty, capacity, or fidelity of a writer, who 
allows himself such rancorous liberties. 

147. A. D. 1121, Ralph Flamberg, Bishop of Durham, built 
Norham Castle on the top of a steep rock, and moated it round. 
He finished also the present cathedral church of Durham, which 
was begun by his predecessor, William de Sanclo Carilepho, A. 
1080, who died A. 1097. Flamberg also built Framwelgate-bridge, 
in Durham. He sate 29 years, and died A. 1128. 

The Keep or Tower of Norham was destroyed by the Scots, 
and afterwards rebuilt by Hugh Pudsey, by the command of his 
cousin* King Stephen. He was Bishop 42 years, and died A. 1195. 

King Richard I. purposing to make an expedition into the Holy 
Land, raised money in all parts of his kingdom. Amongst other 
things, he sold to Hugh Pudsey the Earldom of Northumberland, 



NOTES. 147 

merrily laughing when he invested him, and saying, <f Am not I 
cunning and my craftsmaster, that can make a young Earl of an 
old Bishop ?" But this prelate was fit to be an Earl, for the world, 
as one of the age said of him, was not crucifix us to him, but hfxus 
in him. Lib. Dunelm. 

What the state of the castle was, in Queen Elizabeth's time, we 
learn from Camden, who says, — " In the utmost wall, and largest 
in circuit of the canle, are placed several turrets, on a canton, to- 
wards the river Tweed, within which there is a second inclosure, 
much stronger than the former, and in the middle of that again, 
rises a high keep, or tower. Under the castle, on a level west- 
ward, lies the town of Norham, anciently called by the Saxons 
Ubban-ford, the upper ford, belonging to the Bishop of Durham. 
When the Danes had miserably wasted the Holy Island, wherein 
St. Cuthbert lay buried, some endeavoured to convey his body be- 
yond sea, but the winds standing contrary, they, with all due re- 
verence, deposited the sacred body at Ubban-ford, near the river 
Tweed; where it lay for many years, till the coming of King 
Ethelred. Vide William de Malmesbury de Gest. Pontif. Lib. 1. 
This and other matters were taught me by George Carleton,born 
at this place, son to the keeper of Norham Gastle. The old peo- 
ple told us that at Killey (Kylo), a little neighbouring village be- 
low Norham, were found, within the memory of our grandfathers, 
the studs of a knight's bell, and the hilt of a sword of massy gold, 
which were presented to Thomas Ruthal, Bishop of Durham."— 
Camden's Britannia. 

George Carleton was maintained at school, and at Oxford, by 
Bern. Gilpin, redlor of Houghton, near Durham, styled the Nor- 
thern Apostle, whose life he wrote with this title. Vita Bernardi 
Gilpini, viri sandlissimi, famaque apud Anglos Aquilonares cele- 
berrimi. Carleton died Bishop of Chichester, A. 1628, aged 69 
years. 

Mr. Gilpin, by his ceconomy, lived in such a charitable and hos- 
pitable manner, that it was the admiration of the whole country, 
how he was able to expend so much money as he did, from a living 



I48 NOTES. 

of the value of 400I. a year. He consumed in his family, every 
fortnight, forty bushels of corn, twenty bushels of malt, and a 
whole ox, besides a proportionable quantity of other kinds of pro- 
vision. It was said, at that time, that if a horse was turned loose 
in any part of the country, it would immediately make its way to 
Mr. Gilpin. It hath been remarked, that his example hath ex- 
tended its influence upon the Rectors of Houghton, and that few 
parishes can boast such a succession of worthy pastors, as have 
been there since the death of Mr. Gilpin. This observation is ve- 
rified unto this day. Hospitality and beneficence still continue to 
reside in the house of the present worthy rector. 

Egred, of noble birth, was consecrated Bishop of Holy Island, 
A. 831. He dedicated the church of Norham to the saints, Peter, 
Cuthbert, and Ceolwolph, which he built, together with the town, 
and gave them both to the see of Holy Island. He gave to it also 
the town of Jedburgh, in Tiviotdale, with its appendages, and the 
church and town of Gainforth, and whatever belonged to it from 
the river Teise to the river Weor. These two towns and church 
the Bishop built. Symeon Dunelmens. 

King Ceolwolph, to whom Bede dedicated his Ecclesiastical His- 
tory, was a learned man. He was descended from Ida, the first 
King of Northumberland. The former part of his reign was very 
troublesome. Afterwards, in time of peace, many Northumbrian 
nobles, and private men, with their King Ceolwolph, turned monks. 
In the tenth year of his reign, A. 738, he quitted his crown for a 
cowl, and entered the monastery of the Holy Island, whither he 
carried his treasure, leaving his kingdom to Eadbert, his uncle's 
son. He endowed the monastery, with the towns of Braynshaugh, 
Warkworth,and the churchwhich he built there,and also four other 
villages, Wudecestre, Whittingham, Edlingham, and Eglingham, 
with their appendages. After a long life he was buried in the mo- 
nastery. The abovementioned Bishop Zgred took up his body and 
deposited it in the church of Norham. His head was afterwards 
carried to the Abbey of Durham. Symeon Dunelmens. Hoveden. 

The monks of the cell of Norham, in the following age, called 



NOTES. I49 

in the country to make their offerings at the shrine of their royal 
brother, who always performed some mighty miracle on his feast 
day, to the great astonishment and edification of his numerous 
worshippers. 

Out of the foundation of this cell, belonging to Holy Island, I 
dug a stone on which were cut the effigies of the three patrons of 
Norham church,— St. Peter with his keys, St. Cuthbert, and St. 
Ceolwolph, with a sceptre in his hand. Each of these saints hath 
his head covered with a monk's cowl, or hood. 

Cells were houses that belonged to all great abbeys, or monas- 
teries. Sometimes they were so far distant from one another, that 
the mother abbey was in England, and the child cell beyond the 
seas, and so reciprocally. Some of these were richly endowed, as 
that of Wyndham, in Norfolk, which was annexed to St. Alban's, 
and was able at the dissolution to expend of its own revenues, 72I. 
per annum. Into these cells, the monks of the abbies sent colo- 
nies, when they were too much crowded, or when they were 
afraid of an infectious disease at home. 

Aidan, the founder of the monastery of Lindisfarne, or Holy 
Island, confined the monks to drink only milk and water. But 
the royal monk, Ceolwolph, finding his abode somewhat cool, in 
an island, unsheltered by either tree or bush, from the nipping 
sea-blasts, permitted his brethren, as Hoveden says, to drink both 
wine and ale. 

This local privilege, granted at first for reasons irresistible, be- 
gan now to extend itself to all the English monasteries. Luxury 
kept pace with their increasing wealth. In length of time, they 
became possessed of a third part of the lands of England, when 
Pride, Magnificence, and Licentiousness, with all their train, en- 
tered their sacred walls, and hastened their dissolution, which was 
effected, A. 1534, by Henry VIII. of whom I shall communicate 
to you the following true story : 

" When this King was hunting in Windsor Forest one day, he 
lost himself, probably on purpose; upon which he struck down, 
about dinner time, to Reading, where he disguised himself in the 



IJO NOTES. 

habit of a yeoman of the King's guard ; for one of whom, by his 
stature and figure he might very well pass. He went to the Abbey, 
and was invited to dine at the Abbot's table. A Sir Loin of beef 
was set before him, so knighted, saith tradition, by this King Hen- 
ry ; on which his Majesty laid on lustily, not disgracing the coat 
of a King's beaf-eater, for whom he was taken. * Well fare thy 
heart,' quoth the Abbot, * and here, in a cup of sack, I remember 
the health of his Grace, your master; I would give an hundred 
pounds, upon the condition that I could feed so heartily on beef as 
you do. Alas ! my weak and squeamish stomach will hardly di- 
gest the wing of a small rabbit, or chicken.' The King merrily 
pledged him, and heartily thanking him for his good cheer, after 
dinner, departed, undiscovered. 

" Some weeks after, the Abbot was sent for by a King's mes- 
senger, brought up to London, clapped into the Tower, kept close 
prisoner, and fed for several days with bread and water. 

" The Abbot's mind was sorely disquieted with thoughts and 
suspicions, how he might have incurred the King's displeasure. 
At last the day came, on which a Sir Loin of beef was set before 
him, on which the Abbot fed, like the farmer of his grange, and 
verified the proverb, that two hungry meals make the third a glut- 
ton. In bolts King Henry, out of a private lobby, where he had 
placed himself, the invisible spectator of the Abbot's behaviour. 
' My Lord,' quoth the King, * lay down immediately your hun- 
dred pounds in gold, or else there shall be no going hence for you 
all the days of your life. I have been your physician. I have cured 
you of your squeamish stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand 
my reward for the same.' 

" The Abbot, glad to escape so, deposited the cash, and returned 
to Reading, murmuring at the severity of the doctor's regimen, 
and the exhorbitance of his fees." 

The monasteries, at that time, had a prodigious number of very 
valuable manuscripts. It was said, that there were more in Eng- 
land than in any country in the world of its bigness. When the 
abbies were sold by Henry VIII. the purchasers of them destroyed 



NOTES. 151 

and wasted them all. Many an old MS. bible was cut in pieces 
to cover pamphlets. The following is the lamentation and com- 
plaint of John Bale to King Edward VI. A. 1549. 

" A number of those persons, who bought the monasteries, re- 
served of the library books thereof, some to serve their jakes ; 
some to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots; 
some they sold to the grocers and soap -sellers, and some they sent 

over sea to the book-binders, not in small numbers, but at times 

-it- 
whole ships full. Even thes Uiversities of this realm were not 

all clear in this detestable fact. I know a merchant-man, that 

bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price. 

The stuff thereof he hath occupied, instead of gray paper, by the 

space of more than these ten years; and yet he hath store enough 

for as many years to come. Our posterity may well curse this 

wicked fact of our age, this unreasonable spoil of England's most 

noble antiquities." 

I have heard, that the fine collection of manuscripts, belonging 
to the cathedral church of Durham, was saved by being concealed 
within one of the pillars of the church. 

Dr. Dee presented a supplication, now ill the Cotton library, to 
Queen Mary, A. 1556, for the recovery and preservation of ancient 
writers and monuments: but there was no attention given to it. 
However, we learn from it, that Tully's work, De Republica, 
was once extant in this kingdom, and perished at Canterbury. 

Cardinal Pole told Ascham, that he had been informed, that this 
work of Cicero was in Poland, and that he had sent a man on pur- 
pose thither, at the expense of a thousand golden crowns, about 
900I. sterling, in search of it, but to no purpose. Ascham. Epist. 

These six books De Republica were much esteemed at Rome. 
Cselius, in a letter to Cicero, says, Tui politici libri omnibus 
vigent. 

The following extract, from the second book, will make an 
Englishman regret the loss of this treatise, the most valuable of 
all Cicero's works. Statuo esse optime constitutam rempublicam, 
quas ex tribus generibus illis, regali, optimo, et populari confusa 



152 NOTES. 

modica, nee puniendo irritat animum immanem ac ferum, nee 
omnia praetermittendo, licentia, cives deteriores reddat. 

I determine that to be the best constituted state, the govern- 
ment of which is vested, with a moderate proportion of power al- 
loted to a king, nobles, and commons ; which doth neither exas- 
perate and harden the desperate and cruel mind by the severity of 
punishment, nor make the subjects licentious and vitious, by neg- 
ligently overlooking all kind of offences. About the time that 
Henry suppressed the monasteries, he ordered a valuation to be 
taken of the bishoprick of Durham. Vide Appendix, No. I. 

But it escaped the hands of the courtiers till the year 1552, 6 
Edward VI. when it was dissolved by act of parliament, and given 
to the crown, in order to be bestowed upon Dudley, Duke of 
Northumberland. It was well for this see, that the lands of it 
were not dispersed by sale; otherwise they would have been irre- 
coverable. Two years after this, Queen Mary restored Tunstal 
to his Bishoprick, who had been in prison, and deprived for his 
obstinacy by Edward VI. and also restored him to the temporali- 
ties thereof. 

Durham-house, in Westminster, in St. Martin's parish, was 
demised, April 24, 5 Edward VI. to the Lady Elizabeth. Queen 
Elizabeth possessed it during her life. There was a reversion 
granted of it, A. 4, of Queen Mary, to Cuthbert Tunstal, Bishop 
of Durham, and his successors. Teste Aug. 20. By virtue of this 
grant, it was recovered to the bishoprick again in King James the 
First's time, and was, by Bishop Cousins, granted on a building 
lease, with a reservation of 200I. per annum, — which outrent the 
Bishop of Durham now receives. 

One chief end, proposed in this work, was to divert my mind, 
oppressed with the severe weight of a recent, complicated afflic- 
tion, the death of an only son, and of an amiable and most affec- 
tionate wife. Her sincere, mild, and charitable disposition en- 
deared her to her friends and the poor. The fortitude with which 
she underwent a most excruciating excision of a tumour in her 
breast, attended with a large effusion of blood, was the admiration 



NOTES. IJ3 

of all who knew her. The loss of her son, whilst a slow and pain- 
ful illness consumed her, she supported with no less resolution. 
Unconcerned for her own condition, yet, at times, affected with 
the sense of the tender connections, from which she found herself 
going to be torn away in the strength of her years, she beheld the 
near approaches of death, with intrepidity and chearfulness, which 
proceeded from the consciousness of her blameless life, and the 
settled hope of a happy immortality. 

The humane reader will easily pardon me this insertion of a 
short character of an excellent woman, at a time when his ears 
must needs be wounded with the abundant ungenerous invectives, 
indiscriminately thrown upon the fair sex, occasioned by the of- 
fences of a few married women ; the most of whom, perhaps, 
may have been chained to the objects of their aversion, or driven 
to desperate temerity by the tyranny or vices of their husbands. 

Sostrata, in the Mother-in-law of Terence, translated from the 
Greek comic poet Apollodorus, thus complains : 

JEdepol nae nos sumus mulieres iniquae aeque omnes invisse 

viris 
Propter paucas; qua?, omnes faciunt, dignae ut videamur 

malo. 

In good faith we poor wives have got a very ill name with our 
husbands, because of a few bad creatures, that make the world 
judge hardly of us all. Echard. 

Upon this passage, Madame Dacier, to display her reading, hath 
written the following empty note : 

" Apollodorus took this sentiment from Homer, who makes the 
ghost of Agamemnon, who was murdered by his wife, say, that 
one wicked woman causes reproaches and disgrace to be thrown 
upon all women, even upon those who are the most virtuous and 
prudent." Are all our opinions and common sense derived from 
the writings of the learned ? Hath not the malignity, even of the 
ignorant vulgar, in every age, aspersed the whole fair sex, all pro- 
fessions and bodies of men ? Pascal had the boldness to tell the 

X 



154 NOTES. 

world, " that the Roman Catholics have saints of every vocation, 
except of that of the law, of which not one ever existed." 

This assertion, we of this country can by no means credit. We 
happily behold, every day, as great a crowd of saints amongst our 
lawyers and attornies,£s are to be found amongst our physicians, 
priests, farmers, or any other tribe of men. 

Another motive of my various digressions from the proper sub- 
jects of these annotations is, the supposition that they will please 
and amuse the reader, I shall therefore now proceed in my way 
without any farther apology. 

In Queen Elizabeth's reign, the church suffered great injuries, 
principally caused by the stri<St attention of many avaricious 
bishops to the world. 

Fletcher, father of the famous dramatic poet, obtained, A. 1589, 
the bishoprick of Bristol. He gave such exorbitant leases of the 
lands of it, that he left little to his successors, insomuch that, after 
his removal thence, it lay vacant ten years* 

He was a favourite of the Queen. She once found fault with 
him for cutting his beard too short: whereas, good lady, she 
would have reproached him severely for cutting his bishoprick so 
short, if she had known it. He was Bishop of London in 1594, 
soon after which being a widower, he married a very handsome 
woman, the Lady Baker, of Kent. Queen Elizabeth, possessed 
of high ideas of the virtue of celibacy, abhorred the marriages of 
the clergy. She was so angry at this second marriage of the 
Bishop, that she forbad him to come into her presence, and made 
Archbishop Whitgift suspend him. He was afterwards restored 
to his bishoprick, and to some degree of the queen's favour ; ne- 
vertheless this disgrace was said to have so affedted him, that it 
hastened his death. He died suddenly in his chair, 1596, being to 
all appearance well, sick, and dead in a quarter of an hour. Cam- 
den, in his annals of Queen Elizabeth, imputes his death to the 
supposed poisonous qualities of tobacco, of which he was an im- 
moderate taker. Brief Fieiv of the Churchy 

A. 1584, Godwyn, Bishop of Bath and Wells, infirm, broken 



NOTES. 155 

with the gout, unable to stand, about seventy years old, married a 
third wife, a widow. One of the voracious courtiers, a knight, 
coveting the manor of Banwell, belonging to the bishop, informed 
the queen of his marriage, and begged a lease of it for an hundred 
years. The bishop held out long against many sharp messages 
from the queen. Sir John Harrison, of Kelston, near Bath, who 
wrote a character of this bishop, carried one from the Earl of 
Leicester, who seemed to favour the bishop, and disliked the 
knight: but they were soon agreed, says Sir John, like Pilate and 
Herod, to condemn Christ. Never was harmless man so traduced 
to his sovereign. It was said, that he had married a girl of twenty 
years of age, with a great portion, that he had conveyed half the 
bishoprick to her, that he was gouty, and could not stand to his 
marriage ; with such like scoffs, to make him ridiculous and odi- 
ous to the queen. 

The Earl of Bedford, being present when these tales were told 
to Queen Elizabeth, said to her, Madam, I know not how much 
the woman is above twenty, but this I know, that her son is near 
forty. This rather marred than mended the matter; for one re- 
plied, Majus peccatum habet, He hath therefore the .greater sin. 
Another said, There were three sorts of marriages ; 1st, Of God's 
making, as of Adan\and Eve ; when two young folks were coupl- 
ed. The second of man's making ; when one was old, and the 
other young, as Joseph's marriage. The third of the devil's ma- 
king; when two old folks were married, not for comfort, but for 
covetousness, and such they said was this. 

The conclusion of the whole was, that the poor old decayed 
prelate, to pacify his persecutors, was fain, to save Banwell, to 
part with Wiiscomb, one of his best manors, for ninety-nine 
years, and thus he purchased his peace. 

The son of this Dr. Godwyn was Bishop of Hereford. Not- 
withstanding the liberties which he hath taken with the charac- 
ters of other bishops in his excellent book De Praesulibus Anglue, 
he was himself a great Simonist. He omitted no opportunity in 
disposing of his preferments, in order to enrich his children, 



I56 NOTES. 

Bishop Gibson says, his selling the chancellorship of Landaff was 
made a law-precedent. In short, it was reported, that nothing 
fell in his gift, but h% sold in the favour of some one of his sons or 
daughters. This practice had been so notorious, in Queen Eliza- 
beth's reign, that it was one great cause of her hatred of the mar- 
riages of bishops, and of their solicitude to raise families by the 
revenues of the church. No doubt this also prompted her to 
force the bishops to give her long leases of their episcopal lands, 
and to exchange their valuable manors for estates of much infe- 
rior value. As Mr. Collier says, they parted with precious metal, 
for base : Like Glaucus, in Homer, who gave to Diomedes a suit 
of armour of gold, for one of brass. 

A. 1559, in the first year of Queen Elizabeth, an act of parlia- 
ment was made, which restrained the bishops from granting leases 
of their lands, unless for ai years, or three lives, to any other than 
to the queen and her successors, reserving the old rents. 

The exception to the queen was very disadvantageous to the 
church ; but not so to the courtiers who abused her favour, nor. 
to the covetous bishops. 

This was expunged in the beginning of the reign of James I. in 
whose time many excellent acts passed the house of Parliament ; 
in one of them is a clause which enacts that all assurances of 
bishop's lands to the crown shall be void. This happily saved the 
church from depredation. 

It was not possible, whilst the court of Queen Elizabeth was so 
beset with ravenous harpies, that the rich see of Durham should 
continue unspoiled throughout her reign. Accordingly we find 
from the records of the patent-office, that the easy, timorous 
Bishop Barnes granted most extravagant leases to the queen of 
almost all the manors and estates belonging to the bishoprick. 
Vide Appendix, No. II. 

156. The king, by the advice of this traitor, descended from 
Ladykirk Bank into the flat ground, near the Tweed, now called 
the Gin-Haugh, whence, with his cannon, he threw down the 
north-east corner of the castle wall, a large fragment of which 



NOTES. 157 

now lies by the side of the river. Bishop Tunstall, in Queen Eli- 
zabeth's time, rebuilt the wall ; this is now very distinguishable 
from the old work. 

164. Fee, wages ; a common word in Scotland. What fee do you 
get ? Vulg. 

166. A field, near the castle, in which this traitor was hanged, 
is now called the Hangman's Land. This fact is not mentioned 
by the historians. By the account of it in the poem, we shall more 
readily understand the following epigram of Sir Thomas More, 
Lord High Chancellor in the time of Henry VIII. 

In Regem Scotias, qui arcem Norhamam proditam sibi, tamen 
oppugnavit, dissimulans proditam esse. 

Scote quid oppugnas Norhamam viribus Arcem 

Ante tibi falsa, proditione datam ? 
Artibus ergo malis capta fuit Arce voluptas 

Magna tibi forsan, sed brevis ilia fuit 
Teque tuisque mala, merita sed, morte peremptis, 

Arx intra est paucos, capta, recepta, dies. 
Proditor inque tuo peteret cum prsemia regno 

Mors sceleri est merces reddita digna suo. 
Proditor ut pereat, pereat cui proditor hostis 

Invicta in fatis arx habet ista suis. 

I take this to be the meaning of these two last verses, which are 
the most difficult. 

It was fated to this invincible castle, that the betrayer of it 
should perish, and likewise the enemy, by whom this traitor was 
executed. 

There is a tradition here, that the king was told where the cas- 
tle wall was weakest, by a letter fixed to an arrow, shot over the 
Tweed into his camp. 

171. St. Cuthbert, according to the monkish writers, was born 
of royal blood in Ireland ; but others say, probably with more 
truth, in the north of England. He was nominated the sixth 
bishop of Holy Island, by King Egfrid. Overcome by many 



158 NOTES. 

prayers and entreaties, he quitted hie hermitical life in a desart 
island, called Fame, situated in the German ocean, nine miles 
from Holy Island. 

In this island breeds a species of a large kind of brown fowl, 
called St. Cuthbert's ducks, no where else to be found in Great- 
Britain. The feathers of them are very soft, and of great value. 
As soon as the young ducks are hatched, they run, with the old 
ones, into the sea, and never return back again ; but whither they 
go is not known. 

St. Cuthbert was consecrated at York, on Easter Sunday, A. 
634, by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of 
King Egfrid, many nobles, and six bishops. He sate two years, 
when, growing weary of his bishoprick, he resigned it, and return- 
ed to his hermitage at the Fame Island, where soon after he died, 
on the 20th day of March, A. 686. 

It hath been mentioned above, that St. Cuthbert was deposited 
at Norham. Whether he at last disliked his damp situation, for 
he was buried near a well, which now bears his name ; or, whe- 
ther being only seven miles from the sea, he began to fear another 
visit from his old foes the Danes, is not at present known : But 
this is certain, that he ordered his monks to carry him oo miles up 
the Tweed, to Melross, in Scotland. In process of time he quar- 
relled with this place also ; upon which, by his direction, they put 
him into a stone boat, in which he sailed down the Tweed, to Til* 
mouth, where he landed. We cannot find, after the most diligent 
inquiry, how long he abode there. 

Not many years since, a farmer, of Cornhill, coveted the saint's 
stone boat, in order to keep pickled beef in it. Before this pro- 
fane loon could convey it away, the saint came in the night time, 
and broke it in pieces, which now lie at St. Cuthbert's chapel, to 
please the curious, and confute the unbeliever. 

The unlearned reader will readily believe the possibility of this 
fadt, and the undermentioned classic authors will remove all scru- 
ples relating to it, from the learned one. Juvenal, sat. 15, says, 
that the Egyptians navigated the river Nile, in painted earthen 



NOTES. I59 

pots : Pliny, Dlodorus Siculus, and Strabo say, that the inhabitants 
of the Isles of the Rea Sea, used tortoise shells for boats. These 
were not more proper for the purpose of sailing than the saint's 
stone-boat. Old Charon, who, as some tell us, was an -/Egyptian 
ferryman, being much employed, found it necessary for him to make 
his boat of leather; and such, according to Lucan, were the boats 
of the old Britons; and it is said, that even to this day, these lea- 
thern boats are used upon the river Severn, and in some other 
places in Britain. 

To proceed with St. Cuthbert. In short, he unreasonably op- 
pressed the shoulders of the poor monks, who carried him there- 
on, from Tilmouth into Yorkshire, then to Chester, and thence to 
Durham, where, charmed with the exceedingly delightful situation 
thereof, he slept in peace, for many years. 

Aldwin, the 23d Bishop of Holy Island, and the first of Durham, 
erected a stone structure there, with the help of Uthred, Earl of 
Northumberland, and of all the dwellers between the rivers Co- 
quet and Tees, who were paid for their work, with the promises 
of immense rewards in another world. After their three year's in- 
cessant labour, the generous monks gave them St. Cuthbert's 
word for the payment of their heavenly wages, with which unde- 
niable security they departed, well contented. 

Aldwin's church was dedicated September 4, A, 999, and the 
corpse of the saint placed therein, 31a years after its first interment 
in Holy Island. 

A hundred and five years after this sepulture, the body of St. 
Cuthbert was carried round the present cathedral church in a 
procession of monks, with a numerous train of attendants, and 
then deposited therein, in a fine sepulchre, September 4, A. 1104, 
in the time of Ralph Flamberg, who preached a sermon upon this 
occasion. 

The feast of this translation of St. Cuthbert's body, is celebrat- 
ed, every year, in the county of Durham ; and particularly, with 
great reverence, by the inhabitants of Norham, on the first Sunday 
and Monday after the 4th day of September, O. S. 



l60 NOTES. 

The monks frequently exhibited the body of this saint, uncor- 
rupted, fragrant, and flexible, to the comfort of many spectators 
of high and low rank. In this state of incorruption it remains to 
this day. 

At the dissolution of the convents, the monks buried him in a 
private place of the abbey church, which none but three men 
know. When one of these is upon his death-bed, he imparts this 
invaluable secret to another faithful person. 

Fabellam, moriens, illi dat habere tacendam. 

It being a very important affair to those who expect that a day 
will come, when the adoration of this holy man will be revived. 

I have heard from a Roman Catholick, that the saint's grave is 
in the chureh, not far from the clock. 

Some few years before the reformation, a French bishop, return- 
ing out of Scotland, came to the shrine of Saint Cuthbert, where 
kneeling down, after his devotions, he offered a batubee y a Scotch 
halfpenny, saying, Sancte Cuthberte, si sanctus sis, ora pro me. 
St. Cuthbert, if thou art .a saint, pray for me. But afterwards, 
being brought to the tomb of Bede, he likewise said his prayers, 
offering there a French crown, with this alteration, Sancte Bede, 
quia sanctus es, ora pro me. St. Bede, because thou art a saint, 
pray for me. 

Soon after the battle of Nevil's Cross, A. 1346, John Fosser, 
prior of Durham, made a new banner, and consecrated it to St. 
Cuthbert. The staff of it was five yards long, covered with pipes, 
surmounted with a cross,— under which was a rod, as thick as a 
man's finger, fastened by the middle to the staff. At each end of 
which was a wrought knob and a little bell. All these, except the 
staff, were of silver. The banner cloth of red velvet, fastened to 
the rod, was a yard broad, and one yard and a quarter deep : The 
bottom of it was indented in five parts ;r on both sides it was em- 
broidered, and wrought with flowers of green silk and gold. In 
the midst of it was a square half yard of white velvet, whereon 
was a cross of red velvet, on both sides of the cloth. In it wa& 



NOTES. l6l 

inclosed: that holy relique, the corporax cloth, wherewith St. 
Cuthbert covered the chalice, when he said mass. The banner- 
cloth was skirted with a fringe of red silk^nd gold; and at the 
bottom of it hung three silver bells. 

We would be blame-worthy, if we should censure this prior for 
his expensive furniture of this banner; for history tells us, that of 
all the wares in which the monks traded, none yielded greater 
profit to them, than banners. The saints, to whom they were 
consecrated, delighting in their finery, defended them, and bestow- 
ed victory, upon the host in which they shone. The convents, to 
which they belonged, were, of course, magnificently rewarded, by 
the gratitude of the conquerors. 

About 700 years ago, Edgar, Prince of Scotland, in his way 
thither, dreamt at Durham, that St. Cuthbert appearing to him, 
bade him take courage, and assured him, that if he carried his 
banner along with him, his enemies should fly before him, and he 
should sit upon the throne of his ancestors. Accordingly the next 
mornings he obtained from the monastery the Saint's banner. In 
the mean time King Donald raised a huge army. As soon as the 
king's soldiers discovered the holy banner, glittering on the side 
of the prince, they deserted. The king fled, and was taken by the 
country-people, and brought to the prince, who put him into a 
prison, in which he died of grief. The prince ascribed his victory 
to the saint's banner : and as he could not do any less, he made a 
present of the manor of Coldingham, with its appendages, to the 
servants of the saint, the monks of Durham, and to Ranulph, 
Bishop thereof, he gave the town of Berwick. 

Richard de Lucy, and his associate Humphrey de Bohun, took 
along with them the banner of King Edmund the Martyr, by 
whose assistance they overthrew the Earl of Leicester's army, 
near Bury. Henry II. the ensuing year, went a pilgrimage to Bury, 
and at the shrine of St. Edmund, made an acknowledgment of his 
protection, and decent returns to the abbot and monks of the con- 
vent. — The banners of St. Cuthbert, King James, and of many 
Scotch noblemen, were brought from Floddon, and set up in the 

y 



l6i NOTES. 

feretory of St. Cuthbert, in the cathedral of Durham, in whicli 
they remained till the abbey was suppressed by King Henry, 
when it, together with the exceedingly rich shrine of the saint, 
was plundered of its furniture, gold, and jewels. The visitors 
found one stone there of a sufficient value to redeem a prince. 

King Richard I. gave to St. Cuthbert his parliament robe of 
blue velvet, embroidered with golden lions. Many other rich 
copes were also bestowed upon him, of which several remain at 
this time in the cathedral. 

Catharine, a French woman, the wife of Whittingham, Dean of 
Durham, who died 1579, burnt the fine banner of St. Cuthbert. 
She also carried out of the Century Garth the blue marble stones, 
which covered the graves of the priors, and placed them in the 
threshold, pavements, and walls of a house which she was build- 
ing in the Bailey, in Durham. 

She had forgotten, that she was enabled to build houses, from 
the religious devices of the priors, and their monks, who had 
thereby endowed the deanery with that fine estate which her 
husband and she had enjoyed for several years. 

188. Tide; i.e. time. Thus, Shrovetide ; Whitsuntide. 

191. Could fly. An old English idiom, for didjly, or j?ew. 

10%. Eyne; Eyes. N. 

005. Cause rise, for to rise. N. 

207. The poet cannot find a rhime here to fly. With a little 
variation, he might have written this stanza thus ; 

Some said, the Scots would run away, 

And powers daily would diminish ; 
Wherefore their council was to stay, 

And thus the Earl they did admonish. 

214. The Lothian knight. John Barton, who with his brothers, 
Robert and Andrew, received letters of mark from James IV, in 
order to revenge the death of their father Captain John, who was 
killed by the Portuguese, in the reign of James III. 

315. A. 1513, Sir Edward Howard, admiral of a fleet of forty- 



NOTES. I63 

two men of war, was the first that boarded the French Admiral's 
ship in Conquest harbour, near Brest. He, being unknown, was 
pushed overboard with a spear, and drowned. Upon his death, 
the fleet returned to England, not having lost another man. 

228. Guerdon (French) ; a reward. 

246. Blin ; cease. N. 

253. Stint; stop. N. 

254. Lord Talbot. The sword of John Talbot, Earl of Shrews* 
bury, was found in the river of Dordon, and sold by a peasant to 
an armourer of Bourdeaux. It had this inscription upon it; 

Sum Talboti, 1443. Pro vincere inimico meo. 

255. Richard III. was killed A. 1485. He had for his device, a 
white boar, which gave occasion to the rhime that cost the poet 
his life : 

The cat, the rat, and Lovel the dog, 
Rule all England under a hog. 

259. Dint. Stroke ; impression. N. 

260. Dight. Dressed; prepared; to dight corn, N. 

266. Malcolm III. was killed, together with his son, at a place 
called Malcolm's well, near Alnwick, about the year 1092. As 
soon as his good and virtuous Queen, Margaret, sister to Edgar 
Athcling, heard this news, she abstained from meat and drink, and 
died, within three days, of grief, at Edinborough castle. 

267. Many of the nobles of Scotland, and 15,000 men, were slain 
in this battle, which was fought on St. Luke's day, A. 1346, in the 
time of Edward III. Part of Nevil's Cross, eredted upon this oc- 
casion, is now standing. 

268. In this battle, fought on Holy-rood-day, September 14th, 
1402, were slain twenty-seven Scotch knights, and io,®co men. 
Murdacke Earl of Fife, son to Robert Duke of Albany, governour 
of Scotland, Archibald Earl of Douglass, Thomas Earl of Murray, 
peorge Earl of Angus, and other nobles, were taken prisoners, in z 



I64 NOTES. 

valley near Hamildon, by Henry Lord Percy, son to the Earl of 
Northumberland, and George of Dunbar, Earl of March. 

375. Wield; command. 

378. In the following enumeration of the English officers, the 
name of the eminent John Winschomb, commonly called Jack of 
Newbury, is omitted, who marched to the Earl of Surrey, with 
one hundred of his own men, all armed and clothed at his sole ex- 
pense. He was, in the reign of Henry VIII. the greatest clothier 
in England. He kept one hundred looms at work in his house, 
which was to be seen a century ago ; but is now divided into seve- 
ral tenements. He built the church of Newbury, in Berkshire, 
which is a noble edifice, or rather the west part of it, from the 
pulpit, and also the tower. 

283. Henry, Lord Clifford, of Clifford, whose father was slain 
on the day before the battle of Towton, was remarkably preserv- 
ed, from the fury of the Duke of York, who would have killed 
him, upon account of the cruelties which his father had commit- 
ted, He was concealed, and brought up as a shepherd in the 
mountains of Cumberland, for twenty-four years, having never 
learnt to read or write. 

290. Stour ; /. e. dust in motion. Metaphorically battle. N. 

It were to be wished that some of the learned in Scotland would 
give the public a Scotch dictionary. Many Saxon, or old English 
words might be collected from the common people, who retain 
their language and customs for a long time. 

Numerous are the French words and phrases, spoken by the 
Scots, ever since their ancient connection with the French. Such 
as piquant^ malbeur^ assiette, amery, fasheous y certes. Tite Live. 
Herodote. In the nurse's lullaby song, baloru, or be balelotv, i. e. be 
bast la le loup. Hush ! there is the wolf. 

We may find even here in the North, the traces of some words, 
left us by the Romans, who inhabited Northumberland for some 
hundreds of years. For example; when the shepherds call their 
dogs, it is usual with them to cry, isca, isca y which is evidently 



NOTES. I65 

an abbreviation of Lycisca, the name of the Roman shepherd's 
dog. 



■ multum latrante Lychca. Virg. Eccl. III. 



Vide Ovid Metam. III. Eugen. Toletan. Carm. 22. 

The glancings of the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, which 
seem to represent the clashing of arms, in a military engagement, 
are here called by some, the merry dancers, but by others, more 
properly, the Pyrrby dancers ; which name is derived from the 
Saltus Pyrricbius, or dance in armour of the Romans, from which 
the szvord dance, played by the Northumbrian youths, in their ivbite 
plo-w, at Christmas, has its original. The month of December is 
here called Hagmana, derived from the Greek Hagia mene> The 
Holy Moon. 

The remarks upon the above Latin words, isca, and Saltus Pyr- 
ricbius, I had from a particular friend, a learned and worthy gen- 
tleman in the parish of Norham. 

I shall here give an inscription, I believe hitherto unprinted, 
upon a Roman altar. 

Silvano invicflo sacrum. C. Tetius Veturius Micianus Praef. 
Alat Sebosi-nae, ob aprum eximiae formse captum, quern multi an- 
tecessors ejus prasdari non potuerunt. 

Votum solvens, lubenter, posuit. 

Sacred to the invincible Mars Silvanus, erected by C. T. V. 
Micianus, general of the Seb. auxiliary horse, upon the account of 
his taking a very large boar, which many of his predecessors could 
not destroy. 

This altar was found, not long since, in a rivulet, in the bottom 
of a dean, in Weardale ; probably near the^place where this mon- 
strous boar was killed. 

To return to the above said dictionary. It would be the more 
necessary, at this time, as the English tongue is generally taught 
in the schools of Scotland, and perhaps will be universally spoken 
there. Why might not our poets, who strain hard to find words, 



l66 NOTES. 

who for the sake of measure and rhime, load their lines with use- 
less ones, borrow some old English terms from the North ? We 
have abundance of them, the sense of which must be expressed by 
several words, in modern English. The Scotch writers can vary 
their stile by such words as these, — bent, cooser, mouse-mark, hemp, 
fend, coggle, gimmer, glamour, cleugh, yeld, stour, bye, a Saxon word in 
Alfric's grammar, written 700 years ago, goivpen, glen, loof. The 
meaning of the three last can hardly be explained by a circumlo- 
cution. 

The present Scotch is very little altered from the ancient English 
or Saxon language, which may be accounted for, from the migra- 
tions of the English into Scotland. A. 855, the Picts who lay in 
Northumberland, with the Saxons and Britons their auxiliaries, 
made an irruption into Scotland. Donald V. met them near Jed- 
burgh, and put them to flight. The enemy being informed of the 
neglecSl of order in the Scotch army, the next night after the vic- 
tory, at midnight, returned and attacked them unguarded, drunk, 
and asleep ; and killed 20,000 of them, and took the king and his 
nobles prisoners. Donald, in order to recover his liberty, gave to 
the Picts all the country between Stirling and Clyde. The Saxons 
and Britons expelled the Pi<5ts, and drove the Scots into the High- 
lands ; and at that time they settled themselves in the low coun- 
try, and also their language and customs, most, of which seem to 
be such as were in use before the Normans inv aded England. 

William the Conqueror wasted the northern counties, in so cruel 
a manner, that between York and Durham, for sixty miles toge- 
ther, there was not a single house left standing. The lands lay 
untilled for nine years; and so great a famine ensued, that the 
people died in heaps. King Malcolm kindly received numbers of 
them, who fled into Scotland, and there introduced their language 
and customs. Simeon, of Durham, says, that in his time, Scotland 
was so stocked with English men and maidens, that they were to 
be found in all the farm-houses, and even in the cottages. These 
spread the Saxon tongue quite through the country. 

What perhaps will make the reader the most sensible of the 



NOTES. I67 

utility of a Scotch dictionary, is, that by the help of it, he will be 
the better able to understand the old English writers. To prove 
this, I shall mention a difficult place in the ancient ballad of Chevy 
Chace, and afterwards several passages in our much-esteemed 
poet, Shakespeare, which have been misinterpreted, or altered by 
our learned southern criticks. 
Relics of ancient English Poetry, ad edition, p. 10. 

Thorowe riche male, and myne-ye-ple, 
Many sterne the stroke downe streght. 

Monyple, a N. C. word. For the meaning of the word sterne, we 
may seek in vain in glossaries, but it may be had from a vulgar 
phrase here : For example,— Have you a shilling in your pocket ? 
Answer ; sham a sterne, i. e. not one. The sense then of this quo- 
tation will be thus, — They struck down straight many sterne, u e. 
many a one, through rich coat of mail, and many folds. 

Brooch, in Shakespeare. Buckles, set with stones, with which 
shirt bosoms and handkerchiefs are clasped, in the North are call- 
ed brooches. 

Sir Thomas Hanmer, in his edition of Shakespeare, says, that a 
brooch is an ornament of gold, worn sometimes about the neck, 
and sometimes about the arm. 

Shakespeare, Henry IV. act 4, scene 3. Eating draff and husks. 
Draff, in the North, is malt-grains, with which swine and cows 
are fed. 

Draff. Wash for hogs. Hanmer. 

Draff. Any thing thrown away. Johnsons Dictionary. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, act 3, scene 9. Look how you drum- 
ble ; l. e. hoiv confused you are. The ale is drumbled. N. i. e. dis- 
turbed, muddy. 

To drumble. To drone. To be sluggish. Hanmer. 

Midsummer's Night's Dream, act 3, scene 2. I can gleek upon 
occasion; i. e. lean deceive, or beguile; in this sense, gleek is used in 
the North. 



168 NOTES. 

The reply made to Bottom by the Queen proves this to be the 
meaning of it, viz. Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. 

To gleek. To joke, or scoff. Hanmer. Pope, 

A fool may utter rustic jokes, or scoffs, but it requires some small 
share of art or wisdom to beguile or deceive. 

To grime , in Shakespeare, is to mark or spot ivitb soot ; and this is 
the meaning of this word in the North. 

Grime. Dirt, filth. Hanmer. 

Togrime. To dirt, to sully deeply. Johnson's Dictionary. 

Love's Labour Lost, song at the end. « While greasy Joan doth 
keel the pot.' i. e. cool the pot. 

It is a common thing here, for a maid servant to take out of a 
boiling pot a tubeen ; r. e. a small quantity, viz. a porringer or two 
of broth, and then fill up the pot with cold water. The broth, 
thus taken out, is called the keeling nvbeen. In this manner greasy 
Joan keeled the pot. 

Gie me beer, and gie me grots, 

And lumps of beef to swum abeen ; 
And ilka time, that I stir the pot, 

He's hae frae me the keeling ivbeen. Old Song. 

To keel, seems here to mean, to drink so deep, as to turn up the 
bottom of the pot, like turning up the keel of a ship. Hanmer. 

Twelfth Night, adl I, scene 3. A kestrel is a stone-hawk, a 
well known bird. 

A little kind of bastard hawk. Hanmer* 

Merry Wives of Windsor, act 1, scene 3. Latten bilboe. Lat- 
ten is a common word for tin in the North. 

Latten t a factitious metal. Hanmer. 

All's well that Ends well, act 4, scene 5. Men are to mell 
with ; 1. e. to meddle ivitb ; this is the meaning of this word in the 
North. 

Mell; to mix, to mingle. Hanmer. 

Paddock j in Shakespeare, is a frog, commonly so named in the N. 



NOTES. 169 

Hanmer says it is a toad. 

Twelfth Night, act 2, scene 8. The stanyel checks at it. The 
stanyel is the common stone-hawk, which inhabits rocks and old 
buildings, in the North called stanchiL 

A stanyel, otherwise called a ring-tail, a kind of buzzard or kite. 
Hanmer. 

Second Part of Henry IV. act 2, scene 10. Sweet knight, I kiss 
thy nief; i. e. thy fist. N. C. 

Nief here is from nativa, i. e. a woman slave that is born in one's 
house. Pistol wanted to kiss Falstaff's domestick mistress, Doll 
Tearsheet. Pope, 1st edition. 

Lear, act 4, scene 2. She that herself will sliver. Sliver is a 
common word in the North, and means to cut off a slice. 

Mr. Pope altered it to shiver ; and the monthly reviewers, 
March 1771, read sever ; because, as they say, Shakespeare would 
certainly use the properest word. 

Measure for Measure, act 1, scene 8. To teeming foy son. This 
French word Foison, is in common use in the North ; it means 
plenty, abundance, store, substance. 

Foison. Harvest. Pope. 

Midsummer's Night's Dream, act 4, scene 2. 

— An idle gawd, 
Which in my childhood I did doat upon. 

A gawd is a child's toy. The children here call their playthings 
gowdys, and their baby-house a gowdy-house, 

Gaude. A bauble. Pope. 

Richard III. act 1, scene 4. Out Devil / Out, is an interjection 
of abhorrence or contempt, most frequent in the mouths of the 
common people in the North. It occurs again, act 4, scene 6. Out 
on ye owls ! 

Read— No, Devil ! Dr. Warburton. 

Coriolanus, act 4, scene 8. As is the osprey to the fish. 

Shakespeare wrote aspray, and it is so named in the North. 
The oil of asprays is recommended to anglers. Mr. Theobald 

Z 



170 NOTES. 

hath altered this word to osprey. He and Sir Thomas Hanmer 
have given nonsensical notes upon it. 

The osprey is the sea-eagle, of which it is reported, that when he 
hovers in the air, all the fish in the water underneath, turn up 
their bellies, and lie still, for him to seize which he pleases. The 
name in Pliny is haliaeetos. Hanmer. 

From Pliny, the transcriber here of Aristotle, we have nothing 
but fables. 

He says, that the sea-eagle is generated from eagles, of a differ* 
ent species. 

Haliseeti suum genus non habent, sed ex diverso 
Aquilarum coitu nascuntur. 

Osprey, a kind of eagle. Ossifraga. Pope. 

The osprey is a rare, large, blackish hawk, with a long neck and 
blue legs. Its prey is fish. It is sometimes seen hovering over the 
Tweed ; on the banks of which river, one was shot a few years 
ago near Berwick. 

An osprey built its nest, for time immemorial, in one particular 
tree, in Whinfield Park, in Westmoreland, till it was dislodged, 
by the cutting down of this, and of almost all the other trees in 
this park, not long since, by the noble owner thereof. 

Antony and Cleopatra, act 4, scene 8. But being charged, &c. 
But here signifies 'without, in which sense it is often used in the 
North. 

Boots but spurs* Vulg. 

Sic nonsense ! love" tak root but tocher-good 
Tween a herd's bairn and ane of gentle blood. 

Gentle Shepherd. 

Sir Thomas Hanmer hath altered the text, and the sense of it, 
without assigning any reason for so so doing. He reads the pas- 
sage thus,— 

Not being charged, we will be still by land, which as I take it, 
we shall not. 



NOTES. i;i 

Coriolanus, act 1, scene 2. 

Menenius. I shall tell you 
A pretty tale ; it may be you have heard it; 
But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture 
To scale it a little more. 

To scale here, means, to open, or spread it a little more. 

In the North, they say, you scale the corn. Vulg. i. e. scatter it. 

Scale the muck well. Vulg. i. e. spread it. 

All the editors of Shakespeare have been ignorant of the sense 
of this word. Air Theobald, unable to loose the knot, cuts it — 
He expunges scale, and inserts into the text the word state, for 
which he gives a wise reason, viz. That he can find no sense in the 
common reading. Hanmer adopts Theobald's emendation. Dr. 
W. says, to scale it, signifies to tueigh, examine, and apply it. 

That Menenius uses this word scale, in the sense which I have 
given of it, and also very properly, is evident. For he largely 
dilates his tale. He makes it the subject of thirty-four lines. 

A studious search would find many more instances of expres- 
sions, in Shakespeare, the sense of which is unknown to, or mis- 
taken by the south-country English reader; but the citations, 
given above, are sufficient for my purpose. 

As there is nothing which we are so forward to give as advice ; 
the interpreters, and enraptured admirers of Shakespeare, must 
allow me to recommend to them a seven year's residence on the 
north side of the Tweed ; in which time, if they are diligent, they 
may acquire a competent knowledge of the old English tongue. 

Since the invention of printing, many commentators have ad- 
ventured to alter the text of ancient books, and for their so doing, 
have alledged these two strange reasons, that, where they them- 
selves do not understand a passage in an author, that passage is al- 
together unintelligible; and that good writers always chuse the 
properest words. Hence they practise upon them, as rash sur- 
geons do upon their patients, who cut out, and lop off those parts, 
which skill and experience could have saved. 



17* NOTES. 

The following censure was passed upon Taneguy le Fevre, bet- 
ter known by the Latin name which he assumed of Tanaquillas 
Faber, father of Madame Dacier. This famous critick pretended 
to shew great defects in Livy, Terence, Aristotle, Horace, Taci- 
tus, Eusebius, Eustathius, &c. and to prove, that they frequently 
did not understand the language in which they wrote ; nor is he 
contented with correcting historians and poets, but he has even 
corrupted the Bible itself, in many places, changing the words, 
transposing the periods, and sometimes cutting off entire lines ; 
all this he hath done, without bringing any proof for what he ad- 
vances, except that, in his own opinion, the sense would be better 
and clearer. 

Dr. Bentley, A. 1716, printed an account of an edition, which he 
intended to give of the New Testament, in Greek ; and in 1721, 
he published proposals for printing it by subscription, together 
with the Latin version of S. Jerom. The opposition, which was 
made to this design, particularly by Dr. Middleton, forced this 
great critick to drop it. The Doctor published remarks upon the 
proposals, and prefixed to them the following motto, taken from 
an oration of Burman. Without doubt, Bentley's bold and innu- 
merable corrections of Horace, and of other writers, unsupported 
by manuscripts, evinced the propriety of it. Doctus criticus, et 
adsuetus urere, secare, inclementer omnis generis libros tractare, 
apices, syllabas, voces, dictiones confodere, et stylo exigere, con- 
tinebitne ille ab integro et intaminato divine sapientias monumento 
crudeles ungues ? 

The learned critick, accustomed to burn, to cut, to handle un- 
mercifully all kind of books, to stab, and murder with hi3 pen, 
points, syllables, words, sentences, will he withhold his cruel nails 
from the entire and uncontaminated monument of Divine wis- 
dom ? 

Dr. Middleton tells us, that he wrote his pamphlet, not from 
resentment, but from a serious conviction, that Dr. Bentley 
wanted talents, and materials, for the work which he had under- 
taken. 



NOTES. I73 

How the Doctor proceeded in this employment, and what kind 
of abilities and materials he had for it, the reader may, in some 
degree, be enabled to judge, from a very curious letter in the Ap- 
pendix, No. III. printed from a manuscript. Having no date or 
superscription, I do not certainly know to whom it was addressed. 

The terminations of adjectives, in some and ly, were used indif- 
ferently in old times. Lonely and lonesome are still retained. In 
the North we say, ugsome, livesome, lonesome, and for loathsome, 
loathly, a word in Shakespeare ; this last is also pronounced loadly 
or laidly, as the laidly-ivorm. Tb is frequently changed into d; as, 
for father, we say fader ; for girth, gird; for Rothbury, a town in 
Northumberland, Rodbury ; for Lothian, Loudon. 

The true name of Robin Hood was Robin Fitz-ooth. The ad- 
dition of Fitz, common to many Norman names, was afterwards 
often omitted, or dropped. The two last letters tb being turned 
into d, he was called by the common people, Ood, cr Hood. This 
famous outlaw and deer-stealer, who robbed the rich, and spared 
the poor, was a man of quality: grandson to Ralph Fitz-ooth, 
Earl of Kyme, a Norman, whose name is in a roll of Battle Abby, 
amongst the Normans there. He came into England with Wil- 
liam Rufus. Robin Hood's maternal grandfather, was Gilbert 
de Gaunt, Earl of Lincoln ; his grandmother, was the Lady Roisia 
de Vere, sister to the Earl of Oxford, and Countess of Essex, from 
whom the town of Royston, where she was buried, takes its 
name. Robin Hood's father William, was under the guardianship 
of Robert Earl of Oxford, who, by the King's order, gave to him 
in marriage the third daughter of Lady Roisia. 

Robin Hood bore in his coat-of-arms, Gules. Two bends en- 
grailed, Or. 

At Kirklees, in Yorkshire, the seat of the Armitage family, for- 
merly a benedictine nunnery, Robin Hood lies buried under a 
grave-stone, which still remains there, near the park. The in- 
scription upon it is not now legible. But Mr. Thoresby in his 
Ducat. Leod. gives us, from the papers of Dr. Gales, Dean of 
York, the following epitaph: — 



i?4 



Hear, undernead dis laitl stean, 
Laiz Robert Earl of Huntingtun. 
Nea arcir ver az hie sa geud : 
An pipl kauld im Robin Heud. 
Sick utlawz az hi, an iz men, 
Vil England nivr si agen. 
Obiit 24 Kal. Dekembris. 1347. 

It appears, by the pedigree of Robin Hood, that he had some title 
to the Earldom of Huntingdon. 

Before I end these rambling observations, I shall offer to the 
reader, a solution of a difficult passage in Homer's Odyssey, Lib. 
XIII. 102, and seq. Homer says, that, u at the head of a harbour in 
Ithaca was a long-leaved olive ; and near to it a lovely cavern, sa- 
cred to the nymphs, who are called Naiades. Within, were cups, 
and pitchers of stone. The bees also make honey there. Within 
it also were very long stone-rolls ; and there the nymphs weave 
robes of a sea-purple colour, wonderful to be seen. Within this 
cave also were ever-running waters. It had two gates, one to- 
wards the north, through which men passed, and another to the 
south, more divine, through which the Gods only went, being im- 
pervious to men." 

Neither writers, ancient or modern, have given any satisfactory 
reason, why the gods enter this fairy-cave at the south, and men 
at the north door. The conjecture of Dr. Broome is improbable, 
and unsupported by any authority. Pope's Odyssey, 1. XIII. v. 134. 

Without doubt, the most certain way of finding out the sense of 
an obscure place in an author, is by comparing with it parallel 
places in his works. An excellent French critic observes, that, 
cette voie d'interpreter un autheur, par lui meme, est plus sure 
que tous les commentaires. This difficulty, I imagine, may be 
cleared up by this method. 

Iliad, 1. XX. v. 74, a Trojan river is called Xanthus by the gods, 
namely, by the Greeks, and Scamander by men, that is by the 
Phrygians. Xanthus is Greek for yellow. Another river in 



NOTES. 175 

Lycia is thus named by the Greeks from its yellow sand. Strabo, 
1. XIV. 

Scamander was so called from Scamandrius, King of Phrygia. 
Strabo and Pausanius. 

It was a common thing for the ancients to call rivers by the 
name of the princes through whose country they ran. 

Diodorus Siculus and Zenophon testify, that the ancient name 
of the Nile, was iEgyptus. Homer, in his Odyssey, knows it by 
no other name ; it was afterwards called Nilus, from Nileus King 
of Mgypt. The river Adonis was so named from Adonis, son of 
Cynara, King of the Cyprians. In all the places, where Homer 
mentions the language of the gods, and that of men, he means, by 
the first, the Greek tongue, and by the latter the Phrygian. The 
Phrygians spoke a different language from the Greeks, according 
to Strabo, 1. XIII. 

Homer's Iliad, 1. XIV. v. 291, mentions a hawk, called chalcis by 
the gods, that is by the Greeks, because, as Eustathius says, in its 
colour it resembled brass, in Greek chalchos ; and named by men, 
that is, in the Phrygian tongue, Cymindis, it being an inhabitant 
of Mount Ida, in Troas, otherwise called Phrygfa. 

Iliad II. v. 813. Batieia, being a mount in Phrygia, is so called 
by men, 1. e. by the Phrygians ; but by the gods, i. e. by the Greeks^ 
the tomb of the swift-footed amazon, Myrinne. 

Homer dwelt for some time in iEgypt, and introduced thence 
the religion of that country into Greece. His gods are named from 
the first ^Egyptian kings. Diodorus Siculus. Herodotus. 

The ^Egyptians assert, that the gods reigned over iEgypt thirty 
four thousand two hundred and one years. In the scripture, their 
princes are called gods. Exodus xii 12 and xxii 28, The Greeks 
contemned all other nations, and styled them barbarians, and 
mere mortals. Homer flattered their vanity, and bestowed the 
title of gods upon them, imitating herein the extravagance and 
servility of the ^Egyptians and Orientals. The conclusion I 
would draw from all this, is, that the northern door of the grotto 
of the nymphs, looking towards the sea, and the southern towards 



1)6 NOTES. 

the city of Ithaca, strangers and sailor?, the barbarians, and mor- 
tals would therefore most conveniently go through the first, and 
the Ithacensians, namely the gods, through the latter. 

Porphyry, in the third century, explained this cave allegorically. 
Vide Dr. Broome's note. Od. 1. XIII. 124. His treatise in Greek, of 
twenty-six pages, was first printed, by the order of that great re- 
storer of learning, Pope Leo X. at Rome, together with his Ho- 
merical questions, and also with the Scholia upon Sophocles, A. 
1518, in one volume in quarto, from manuscripts. 

The Scholia of Sophocles, abounding in later editions with tri- 
fling grammatical interpolations, and in many places erroneous, 
might be made more valuable if they were reprinted from this 
Roman copy. 

This allegory of Porphyry was translated by Holstenius into 
Latin, and printed at Cambridge 1655. 

But allegories never entered into Homer's head. The Odyssey 
is a romance, filled with tales of giants, fairies, living ships, magi- 
cians, witches, and such like fictions, the idea of which he got from 
the Orientals, For the writings, and even the religion and history 
of the Persians and Arabs, are adorned with stories of genies, fai- 
ries, enchanters, and dragons. 

After Homer returned from his travels, he compiled his romances 
and sung detached pieces of them, in various cities of Greece ; 
without doubt, being quite agreeable to the taste of the Greeks, 
they procured him a pretty good livelihood. But, what he gained 
from them he spent. Being a lover of good cheer, he died poor. 

Mseonides nullas ipse reliquit opes. Ovid. 

The Greeks were strangely delighted with wild, monstrous, and 
unnatural fidions. 

Demades the famous Athenian orator, two thousand years ago, 
convened the Athenians, in order that they might hear an oration 
from him. After a great crowd of them were assembled, and very 
attentive, Demades thus began : — " The goddess Ceres, a swallow, 
and an eel, travelling together, arrived upon the banks of a river. 



NOTES. -I77 

The swallow flew over to the other side, the eel swam through 
under the water.'* Having thus said, the orator held his peace. 
After waiting a while, the Athenians eagerly called to him, to 
proceed in his speech, and to tell them in what manner Ceres 
crossed the river. He replied, " All that I know concerning her, 
is, that she is exceedingly angry at you, for negledling the affairs 
of your city, and giving ear to fables." They were no wiser in the 
days of St. Paul, who tells us, " That the Athenians spent their 
time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 
According to the accounts of travellers, they are still of the same 
disposition. 

Let us now venture to look a little nearly into Pope's Grotto of 
the Nymphs. 

Salvini, of Florence, justly called his version of Homer, a para- 
phrase. His greatest admirers must also be forced to confess it to 
be a very licentious one. The numerous omissions, variations* 
and misinterpretations which appear in it, are altogether indefen- 
sible, whatever allowances we may give to a long and difficult 
poetical performance. The Horace of Mr Francis is a convincing 
proof, that the sense of an ancient poet may be closely preserved, 
in an English metrical version, notwithstanding that it may be 
greatly embarrassed by the fetters of rhyme. But if a faithful 
verse-translation of Homer is not to be expected, why may not a 
literal one in prose be acceptable to us ? We read the adventures 
of Telemachus with pleasure. 

Mr. Pope received from the subscribers to his Iliad, 6ocol. the 
copy of which he sold for iaool. and that of the Odyssey for 6ocl. 
This translation of Homer employed him twelve years. Ani- 
mated, and encouraged as he was, by his exceedingly generous 
patrons, surely, in that length of time which he took, he ought to 
have attended to the original Greek, and not to have translated an 
erroneous Latin version, which in general he seems to have done. 
The following few lines will suffice to shew his want of care. 
Let the reader compare them with the literal translation given 
above. 

A a 



173 



High at the head a branching olive grows, 

And crowns the pointed cliffs with shady boughs. 

Beneath, a gloomy grotto's cool recess 

Delights the Nereides of the neighbouring seas ; 

Where bowls and urns were form'd of living stone; 

And massy beams in native marble shone ; 

On which the labours of the nymphs were roird, 

Their webs divine of purple mix'd with gold. 

Within the cave, the clust'ring bees attend 

Their waxen works or from the roof depend. 

Perpetual waters o'er the pavement glide ; 

Two marble doors unfqld on either side; 

Sacred the south by which the Gods descend, 

But mortals enter at the northern end. 

Verse i. Branching olive. This is translated from the false Latin 
version, passis ramis, i. e. with spreading branches. Homer's word 
is tanuphullos) long leaved, which is significant, and expressive of a 
distinguishing property of the olive, bearing long and narrow 
leaves like the willow. 

Verse a is Pope's own addition. 

Verse 4 is a false translation. The Nereids are sea-fairies, who, 
wearing no cloaths, would never fatigue themselves at a loom, in a 
dark cave, in order to weave webs, which could be of no use to 
them. 

But Homer calls the ladies of this cave, Naiades, the fountain- 
fairies, who presided over the perennial springs that were therein. 

Verse 5. Living-stone. This epithet inserted by Pope, is highly 
figurative, and quite unintelligible to the mere English reader, and 
therefore it ought not to have had a place here. It does not 
seem to be very clear to men of letters. Pope borrowed it from 
Virgil: 

Intus aquse dulces, vivoque sedilia saxo; 
Nympharum domus. 



NOTES. I79 

Servius in loc. explains vivo by naturali natural. Virgil, I sup- 
pose, means here, natural seats, unformed by art, unsevered from 
the rock. 

Verse 6, ia. The iveaver-beams, by Homer called long, but by 
Pope massy, and the cavern-doors, verse 12, are formed all of shining 
marble by Pope, but by Homer only of plain stone. 

Verse 8. Their nvebs. This is a false version, taken from the 
Latin interpreter. In Homer it is Pharea, which signifies vestes ; 
garments, not lintea, linen webs, as it is in the Latin. 

Verse 8. Mix'd zuith gold. The webs in Homer are made sim- 
ply of purple threads ; Pope has mixed with them threads of gold. 

Homer, if I may personify his works, thus stripped of his old 
plain attire, and cloathed in a fashionable, modern, richly-orna- 
mented dress, jingling in continual rhymes, is like a daughter of 
Zion, who, bedecked with ear-rings, and nose-jewels, wimples, 
and crisping pins, minces as she goes, and makes a tinkling with 
her feet. Is. iii. 

Homer's Grotto of the Nymphs is not to be found in the island 
of Ithaca. Strabo tells us that it was entirely a fiction of the 
poet. 

In the anatomy room at Leyden, there is the hand of a sea- 
nymph, and also an Indian ape with wings. 

296. Sir Thomas Meetham, Sir William Sidney, Sir John 
Everingham. 

301. Sir Brian Tunstal, of Thurland Castle, in Lancashire. 

I have heard, from a worthy gentleman of this family, that this 
Sir Brian was the father of Cuthbert, who was twenty-eight years 
Bishop of Durham, and who was esteemed to be one of the wisest, 
best, and most learned men of his time. He was employed in 
several embassies abroad, and preferred by Henry VIII. of whom 
it was remarked, that he was so great a lover of learned men, that, 
during his long reign, he made not one dunce a bishop. He also 
left to this Tunstal 300I. in his will. 

In Queen Mary's reign, Tunstal would not suffer any man in 
his diocese, to be persecuted for the sake of his religion. He used 



l80 NOTES. 

to say, that he would not imbrue his hands in Protestant blood. 
He was very chearful and lively in conversation, and lived to the 
age of eighty-five. He was the last Bishop of Durham that treated 
with the Scots upon the borders. Thomas Earl of Northumber- 
land, William Lord Dacres, of Gilsland, this Bishop, and James 
Croft, captain of the town and castle of Berwick; the Earls of 
Morton and Hume, and Sinclair Dean of Glasgow, met at Upset- 
linton, near Norham, and agreed to articles, concerning the grant- 
ing of a safe conduct to murderers, thieves, border-robbers, and 
deserters, A. 1559, in which year Tunstal died. 

As this prelate was attending Henry VIII. in his progress, 
towards the city of York, upon the hill beyond Barnesly, about 
four miles from Doncaster, he took an occasion to speak to him of 
the pleasures of Yorkshire ; requiring his Grace, to look upon the 
country before him, affirming, " that he should see the greatest 
and fairest valley that was in all Europe, from end to end; and 
that he never saw the like as that was, for all pleasures and com- 
modities, which he could well testify. And therefore he desired 
his Highness to behold, upon his right hand, the great hills, the 
Yorkswolds and Blakemore hills ; and likewise to behold those 
great mountains and fells, which were upon the left hand ; the 
breadth of which valley is some thirty or sixty miles wide, in the 
most places, and in length some eighty and an hundred miles; 
wherein for cities and towns, castles and manor-houses, famous 
rivers and brooks, parks and woods, corn, grass and cattle, fairs 
and markets, fish and fowl, mines and quarries of coal and stone, 
and likewise mines of lead, iron, and other metals, he never saw 
the like in all his travels. And for the truth thereof, as it may, 
and doth plainly appear, some miles west of Tadcaster, there 
are within the circuit of seven or eight miles, seventy-seven 
manor houses, whereof the worst of them were of esquires of an 
ancient continuance. There be also within the same circuit, 
twenty-five woods, thirty-two parks, sixteen rivers, eight market 
towns; and in them, and in other villages, there be as many fairs 
in the year, as in any other place in England. There be also 



NOTES. l8l 

twenty-four coal mines, and diverse furnaces both for melting and 
drawing forth iron into bars. There be also much other metals, 
if they were sought for; and for corn, grass, and cattle, fish and 
fowl, this place is not inferior to the best in all England. And 
there is one thing here, more worthy to be spoken of, than all the 
rest; which is, the great abundance of freestone and lime that is 
to be found within that circuit ; as much lime and free-stone, as 
would build as many churches, cities, castles, towns, and houses 
as are in all England, if need were. And for the pleasures of hunt- 
ing and hawking, fishing and fowling, it is as delicate a place as 
any there is in all England." 

The descendants of Sir Brian are Roman Catholics, of great 
property, seated at WyclifF, near the river Tees. Their coat of 
arms is, Sable, 3 combs Argent. Godwyn de Pracsulibus Angliae 
says, that the first person of note of this name was a barber to 
"William the Conqueror; and that, upon his being raised to a bet- 
ter fortune, he, in memory of his former condition, took for his 
arms, S. 3 combs A. 

Many bear in their arms a device alluding to their profession. 
Thus, in the island of Fionia, belonging to Denmark, the ancient 
family of Trool, which signifies a sorcerer, bears a devil. Sable, 
upon a field gules. 

310. Thalian field. I do not know what is meant by Thalian field. 

1 take the author to have been a Yorkshire schoolmaster. Vide 
Sir Edward Stanley's speech, stanza 238, et seq. having his head, 
perhaps, full of rhetorical figures, he uses the word Thalian for 
Thessalian, per Syncopen, alluding to the plains of Thessaly, 
where a battle was fought in the Roman civil wars between Caesar 
and Pompey. 

Martin Swart, a German colonel, and others under the com- 
mand of John Earl of Lincoln, were defeated by Henry VII. at a 
place called Stoke, about three miles from Newark. 

312. Sir Richard Bold, Sir Thomas Butler, Ralph Bruerton, 
John Bigod, Robert Warcop. 

313. John Lawrence. 



l82 NOTES. 

314. Brian Stapleton, Thomas Fitz Williams. 
320. Wend. To go. Obsolete. The past time went is only now 
in use. 

328. Christopher Clapham. 

329. Sir Richard Tempest. 
337. Blin ; cease. 

349. There is a tradition here, that King James, returning from 
a visit to Mrs. Heron, at Ford Castle, found himself in danger of 
drowning, in his passage through the Tweed, near Norham, at the 
West Ford, which is pretty deep on the Scotch side. Upon which 
he made a vow to the Virgin Mary, that if she would carry him 
safe to land, he would erect and dedicate a church to her upon the 
bank of the Tweed ; which he performed in the Jubilee year, A. 
1500, according to an old inscription upon the church, mostly now 
defaced. 

This gothic structure is much admired. It is entirely of stone ; 
the roof of it rests, upon what the masons call here, point-cast 
arches, which are supported by nineteen buttresses. William 
Robertson, Esq. proprietor of a large estate in the parish of Lady- 
kirk, added to this church a handsome steeple, A. 1743, and A. 
1769, paved the greatest part of it with stone, all at his own ex- 
pense. From his worthy son, I have received, amongst many 
other favours, the substance of some of these notes. 

350. See note 39. 

353. Piles. Vide Supra. 

357. Bless. Wound. From the French, JBIessir. 

372. Bad cast. A North idiom. 

402. No far; a North-country phrase. 

405. Hay kept. Should be clept ; i. e. called; from the obsolete 
verb, clepe. 

410. Gills. Narrow vallies. N. 

412. Hent. Catch. 

426, Wight. Nimble ; aftive, stout, N. 

429. This story of Bastard Heron is not to be found in the 
English History. See note 39. 



NOTES. l8j 

431. Deemed. Judged, From the Saxon deman. This word is 
used in this sense in old Scotch writings. 

433. Gate. Way. N. 

436. King Henry VII. 

444. Doom. 'Judicial sentence* 

447. Gando. The text may be here erroneous, and the poet 
perhaps wrote Gano y which is a Spanish word, used at the game of 
Ombre. When one of the two defenders of the pool, wants the 
other to let his card pass, and win the trick, he cries, Gano, I win. 

Or our author may allude to a ball, with which the Lapland 
wizards divert themselves, called by them Gand, which for the 
sake of his metre, he hath lengthened to Gando. Of this, Reg- 
nard, a celebrated comic poet, in his voyage to Lapland, gives us 
the following history, which, he says, that he had heard from so 
many credible people, that he could not possibly disbelieve it, 

" A magician, who wants to inflict evil, disease, or death upon 
any one, uses, for this purpose, a ball, of the size of a pigeon-egg, 
which is called in Lapland, Gand; this he sends through all 
quarters, to a certain distance, as far as his power extends ; and if 
this fiery ball meets either man or animal in its way, it goes no 
farther ; it has the same effect upon it, that it would have had upon 
the person, it was intended to annoy. 

" A Frenchman, our interpreter in Lapland, who had lived 30 
years at Suvapara, assured us, that he had often seen it pass 
around him. He told us, that it was impossible to know its 
figure, and that it flew, with extreme velocity, and left behind it 
a small blue train of light, very distinguishable. He added, that 
one day, as he was travelling upon a mountain, his dog, following 
him close, was struck with a Gand, and died instantly. Upon his 
seeking for the wound, he saw a hole under his throat, but could 
not find in his body the instrument of death. The enchanters 
keep these Gands in leathern bags ; and some of the wickedest of 
them, almost every day, in wanton sport, let fly one of them into 
the air, to do mischief, when they mean no harm to any particular 
person. When one of these magicians, in his wrath, encounters 



184 NOTES. 

another, his Gand has no power, if his adversary is more expert 
in his art, and is a greater devil than himself." For, when a 
weaker sorcerer plays with a stronger, his enchantment always 
fail. Hence comes the following proverb amongst the French, 
when a cunning man is outwitted by one more cunning than him- 
self; viz. The devil of this last man is stronger than the devil of 
the first. 

Tacitus says, that the Finlanders, from whom the Laplanders 
are descended, have been always addicted to magick. 

457. Black fasting. A North-country phrase. 

459. Sandyford. A rivulet near Crookham, in the parish of 
Ford. 

464. Harry. Plunder, North. 

468. Bent. Field, A long kind of grass, which grows in Nor- 
thumberland, near the sea, and is used for thatch, is called bent. 

471. Surrey-side. Should be the Sunny-side,— viz. on the north 
side. 

473. A gainful Greek. A fraudulent man. The Greeks were 
infamous for their perfidy. Cicero says of them, Testimoniorum 
religionem, et fidem nunquam ista natio coluit. And Graecorum 
ingenia ad fallendum parata sunt. 

481. Battle four ; i. e.four wings. 

484. Hent. To lay bold on. 

Jog on, jog on the foot-path-way, 

And merrily bent the stile-a. 
A merry heart goes all the day ; 

Your sad tires in a mile-a. 

Shakespeare's Winter Tale. 

492. Groom. A young man. Valet, which in French means a 
groom, was formerly an honourable title, given to young gentle- 
men, until they arrived at the age of 18 years. 

493. Skail. Disperse. North. 

500. Mace. Perhaps should be pace ; 1. e. Tunstal accompa- 
nied Sir Edward Howard. 



NOTES. I85 

501. Again. Against. N. 
510. Teen. Sorrow. N. 

516. It is said, that there is a monument of Bryan Tunstal, in 
the north-west of Yorkshire, upon which is his effigy, lying in 
armour. 

517. Stead. Place. 

524. John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford ; William Graham, Earl 
of Montrose. 

528. Mitred prelates. George Hepburn, Bishop of the Isles, and 
another Bishop whose name is unknown. 

529. William Sinclair, Earl of Caithness ; David Kennedy, Earl 
of Cassils ; John Douglas, Earl of Morton ; William Hay, Earl of 
Errol; John Stuart, Earl of Athol; Patrick Hepburn, Earl of 
Bothwell; Cuthbert Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn; Thomas 
Fraser, master of Lovat; Sir Patrick Houston, of Houston; 
Thomas Stuart, Lord Innermeath; John, Lord Ross. 

Sir James Ross, the chief of a Highland clan, was at this battle, 
as we are told in a fine song called the Buchanshire tragedy, writ- 
ten by a very ingenious young lady, Miss Christian Edwards, 
daughter of a gentleman in Stirlingshire, author also of several 
other poetical pieces. Vide Appendix, No IV. 

John, Lord Maxwel; William, Lord Borthwick; John, Lord 
Forbes ; Robert, Lord Erskine ; Henry, Lord Sinclair; John, 
Lord Sempil ; Mr Cawell, Clerk of the Chancery ; Sir Cuthbert 
Hume, Lord of Fastcastle. 

536. Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. 

538. Herbert, should be Hepburn. 

541. Verse 4. It should seem by this verse, and by the lan- 
guage of this poem, that it was not written long after the battle 
of Floddon. 

54a. Wan; gained. Wist; knew. N. 

554. Malcolm Stuart, Earl of Lennox. 

564. The Scots cast themselves into a ring, who were all slain 
with the king, except Sir William Scot, his chancellor, and Sir 

Bb 



l86 NOTES. 

John Forman, his serjeant-porter, who were taken prisoners and 
with great difficulty saved. The battle lasted three hours. 

566. Fair perhaps should be Ker. 

5J% The next day after the battle, the body of King James was 
found. He had received many wounds, most of them mortal. 
He was wounded in diverse places with arrows, his neck was 
opened to the middle, and his left hand in two places almost cut 
off, so that it scarcely hung to his arm. A great number of no- 
blemen lay dead round the king, whose body, though much de- 
faced, was known at the first sight, by some private marks, by 
Lord Dacres, Sir William Scot, Sir John Forman, and other 
Scotch prisoners. 

574. The Scots had twenty-two large brass cannon, and parti- 
cularly seven of a very wide bore, all of the same size and make, 
called the Seven Sisters, which the Earl of Surrey sent down to 
Berwick. 

575. The king's body was brought to Berwick, and there em- 
bowelled, embalmed, and cered, and inclosed in lead, and secretly 
amongst other things conveyed to Newcastle, thence it was carried 
to London, and by the General presented to Queen Catharine, at 
Richmond, who, with the gauntlet of King James, sent the news of 
the victory unto King Henry, lying at the siege, before the town 
of Terwin. From Richmond the body of the king was brought 
unto the adjoining monastery of Sheene. Stow saith, that at the 
dissolution of this house, in the time of King Edward VI. it was 
thrown into a waste-room, amongst old timber, lead, and stone. 

On Tuesday, September 9th, 1513, 5 Henry VIII. in Crookham 
West-field, belonging to John Askew, of Palinsburn, Esq. this 
battle was ended; in memory whereof, a stone, which now stands 
there, was erected. Vide stanza 558. 

King James was killed in the 25th year of his reign, and the 
39th of his age : He was of a majestic countenance, of a middle 
size, and a strong body. By the use of exercise, a slender diet, 
and much watching, he could easily bear the extremities of 



NOTES. l87 

weather, fatigue, and scarcity. He excelled in fencing, shooting, 
and riding. He delighted in fine horses, the breed of which he 
endeavoured to propagate, in his own country, as it appears from 
several letters still extant, which he wrote to the Kings of Spain 
and Poland, entreating them, that they would suffer his servants 
to buy such horses and mares, as their respective dominions afford- 
ed. In return, he made them presents of hunting dogs, and of the 
famous little ambling horses, called galloways, bred in the moun- 
tains and isles of Scotland. About the year 1508, the Lord of 
Campvere sent him many large Flanders horses ; and also Henry 
VII. several fine horses and rich furniture. He was of a quick 
wit, which by the negligence of those times was uncultivated with 
letters. He had great skill in the art of curing wounds, which 
was then common to the Scotch nobles, always in arms. He was 
of a high spirit, of easy access, courteous and mild. Just in his 
judicial decisions, merciful in his punishments, which he inflicted 
upon offenders always unwillingly. He was poor, from his pro- 
fusion in sumptuous buildings, public shows, entertainments, and 
gifts. 

As long as he lived, he wore an iron chain-girdle, to which he, 
every year, added one link, in testimony of his sorrow, for his 
having appeared at the head of the rebels, who killed his father, 
James III. A. 1488, contrary to his express orders. Bishop Lesly 
concludes the life written by him of James, with telling us, that 
the Scotch nation lost in him a king most warlike, just, and holy. 
Certain it is, that he was so dear to his subjects, that his death 
was more lamented, than that of any of his predecessors ever was. 
The following epitaph was made upon him : 

Fama orbem replet, mortem sors occulit ; at tu 
Desine scrutari quod tegit ossa solum. 
Si mihi dent animo non impar, fata, sepulcrum, 
Angusta est tumulo terra Britanna meo. 

He married Margaret, the eldest daughter of Henry VII. by 
whom he left two sons, the eldest not two years old. About a 



l88 NOTES. 

year after King James's death, she married Archibald Douglas, 
Earl of Angus, by whom she had a beautiful daughter, Margaret, 
born A. 1516, at Harbottle Castle, in Northumberland, afterwards 
the wife of Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, and by him mother 
to Henry, Lord Darnley, father to James I. 

Margaret and the Earl of Angus could not agree, upon which 
the marriage was dissolved by a bull from the Pope, a precontract 
having been proved against him. A. 1528, she married Francis 
Stuart, and had by him a son, created Lord Methven by James V. 

To divert her from her intended marriage with Stuart, Henry 
VIII. wrote several letters to her, in one of which, he told her, 
that he thought it was pardonable for men to do some things, 
which it was quite shameful for women to do. Queen Margaret 
died A 1539, aged 51, and was buried at the Charter House, at 
Perth, near the tomb of James I. 

The natural children of James were, by Mary Boyd, daughter 
of Archbishop Boyd, of Bonshaw, Alexander, Archbishop of St. 
Andrew's, and Catharine, wife of James, Earl of Morton. By 
Jean Kennedy, daughter of the Earl of Cassils, James, Earl of 
Murray. By Margaret, daughter of John, Lord Drummond, 
Margaret, wife of John, master of Huntly. By Isabel, daughter 
of James Stuart, Earl of Buchan, Jean, wife of Malcolm, Lord 
Fleming, Great Chamberlain of Scotland. I shall end this account 
of King James, with his character, written by Erasmus. 

Jacobus Rex Scotorum absolutam felicitatem absolute laudi 
adjunxerat, si perpetuo suis se finibus continuisset. Erat ea cor- 
poris specie, ut vel procul Regem posses agnoscere. Ingenii vis 
mira, incredibilis rerum omnium cognitio, invicta animi magni- 
tudo vere regia, pectoris sublimitas, summa comitas, effusissima 
liberalitas. Denique nulla virtus erat, quae magnum deceret 
principem, in qua ille non sic excelleret, ut inimicorum quoque 
suffragio, laudaretur. Contigerat uxor Margareta, Serenissimi 
Anglorum Regis Henrici Oclavi soror, ea forma, ea prudentia, ea 
in maritum charitate, ut non aliam e superis optare potuisset. 
Regnum Scotia quod multis, et opibus, et celebritate incolarum 



NOTES. I89 

et splendore fertur cedcre, sic suis virtutibus illustrarat, sic auxe- 
rat, sic ornarat, lit veram egregii principis laudem meruerit, si 
intra hoc glorias suae stadium constitisset. Sed O nunquam feli- 
cem regno, raro principi, regis discessum ! Dum nimium amico in 
Gallorum regem animo, quo Britannia Regem magnis rerum mi- 
nis Gallias impetentem averteret, et ad insulse suae defensionem 
revocaret, egressus regni sui fines, Anglos bello lacessit. Quid 
multis? Fortiter quidem, sed infeliciter, periit; non tarn sibi, 
quam regno. Periit adhuc, aevo vigens. Diu Scotia tanto prin- 
cipe, diu Margareta tali marito, diu filius, nam filium ex ea sustu- 
lerat, tali patrc frui potuisset, atque ipse vicissim, et his omnibus, 
et sua gloria, nisi sibi vitam invidisset. 

Regibus proprius ac pulcherrimus laudum campus intra regni 
fines est. In apum gente, caeterae quidem hue, et illuc volatu diva- 
gantur, solus Rex, ut aculeo caret, ita, pro portione corporis, alas 
habet multo minores, ut ad volatum parum sit idoneus. Veteres 
ita veHerem fingebant, ut pedibus testudinem premeret, id innu- 
entes, matrem familias ab aedibus nusquam oportere discedere ; 
quippe cujus omne officium intra domesticos parietes contineatur. 
Atqui multo magis ad rem pertinebat, principem hoc admoneri 
symbolo, qui, si quid peccat, non unius familiae, sed orbis totius 
malo peccat. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

THE VALUATION OF THE BISHOPRICK OF 
DURHAM, A. 1534. 

£. *. J. 
1 he scite of the castle of Durham, with the coinage 

of money 868 

Rents, farms, and office of coroner, in Chester-ward 486 6 5 

Rents in Darlington-ward, and office of coroner . . aia 15 1 

Rents, &c. in Easington 396 % 4 

Ditto, in Stockton . 214 4 5 

Ditto, in Sadbergh 290 1% 8 

Ditto, &c. in Auckland, Gateshead, Whickham, &c. 

about 630 o o 

Spirituals 87 13 4 

In Norhamshire* the scite of the castle^ &c. of Nor- 

ham , . 120 o o 

In Allerton, and Allertonshire, the scite of the man- 
sion, &c 241 n 3 

Spirituals in Allerton and Allertonshire . ... 18 o o 

In the liberty of Crayke, the scite of the castle, &c. 48 % o 

In Hoveden and Hovedenshire 584 10 3 

The mansion of the Bishop in London 18 1 4 

Sum total 3056 5 9 



jgT. NOTES. 



£. s. d. 

Brought over . . . 3056 5 9 

Dedud: reprises . . . 307 6 3 

Clear value .... £2748 19 6 



The Bishop of Durham retained the privilege of coining money 
in his mint, from the year 1196 in the reign of Richard I. to the 

year 1540. 



193 



APPENDIX, No. II. 



The manours of Norham and Norhamshire, Allerton and Al- 
lertonshire, Sadbergh, Middleham, Easington-ward, Easington- 
coronater, Cotton Menville, and Gateshead, taken away from the 
see of Durham, A. 1560, by Queen Elizabeth, and excepted out of 
the restitution of the temporalities, on James Pilkington's being 
made Bishop. Teste, March 25, 1561. 

A. 1556, restitution to James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, of 
the temporalities of Durham, with all these manours, except 
Norham and Norhamshire. Teste, June 13, 1566. 

A. 1581, Queen Elizabeth recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop 
of Durham, granted to her the manour of Middleridge, in the 
county of Durham, for 80 years ; now the Queen grants the said 
manour, and her interest to Richard Franklin. Teste, March 23, 
A. regni 24. 

A. 1582, the Queen recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop of Dur- 
ham A. regni 23d, June 20, granted her for 79 years, the lordship 
and borough of Gateshead; now the Queen grants her interest to 
Hen. Andrew and Will. Selby, Aldermen of Newcastle, Novem- 
ber 12, A. regni 25. 

A. 1587, the Queen recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop of 
Durham, A. regni 28, September 29, demised to her the manour 
and advowson of Crayke, for 80 years. The Queen grants the 
same to Sir Francis Walsingham, Teste, March 22, A. regni 30. 

The Queen recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham, 
July 13, A. regni 27, granted her his manor-house, &c. at Hove- 
den, in the County of York, for 99 years. The Queen grants the 
premisses to John Gates, of Holden, Esq. Teste, May 20. 

The Queen recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham, 
April, A. regni 20, demised to her his mills in Darlington and 
C C 



194 NOTES. 

Blackwell for 40 years. She grants them to William App. Teste, 
June 19. 

The Queen recites, that Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham, 
May 31, A. regni 19, granted her his fisheries in the water of 
Tweed, and his franchises of Norham and Norhamshire, in the 
county of Northumberland. She grants the same to Thomas 
Leighton, Esq. Teste, August 21. 

Tobias Matthews, Bishop of Durham, demised to King James 
I. the castle of Norham, and the fisheries on the Tweed, and the 
manor of Norham and Islandshire, which the Dean and Chapter 
confirmed, April a, 1604. But he had some recompence made to 
him, by the confirmation of Durham-house in London to his see, 
and an abatement of the thousand pounds a-year which had been 
paid out of the Bishoprick, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
to the garrison at Berwick. 

This Dr. Matthews was an indefatigable preacher. In the 
eleven years that he was Dean of Durham, he preached 721 ser- 
mons. He was Bishop twelve years, and in that time he preached 
550 sermons. 



'95 



APPENDIX, No. III. 

DOCTOR BENTLEY's LETTER. 

Rev. Sir, 

I received your very obliging letter. It would make my long 
tedious work much more easy and light to me, if all the persons, 
whose courtesy I am forced to make address to, were as frank and 
forward as yourself. You will be sensible, that the effect of this 
labour of mine depends upon authority, not reason and criticism. 
I could sit still in my study, and with little trouble make Greek 
and Latin agree, and tally together, with plausible, if not certain, 
nay, even with certain emendations. How many such, when I 
collated my first manuscript, have I written in the bottom of the 
page, as conjectures of the true Latin reading ? These, in the pro- 
gress of more and older manuscripts, I have since found to have 
been plain, and from the first hand, in the old Saxon exemplars. 
You know the difference of these two propositions. I guess, I 
argue, I persuade, that it was once so written, though all the copies 
go against it; and I show you, that it is yet actually so, in an old 
manuscript of King Athelstan's, St. Cedda's, St. Cuthbert's of the 
age of 1200 years. The one pleases, and convinces ingenuous men, 
and well-willers to the Scriptures, and the other stops the mouths 
even of Pagans and Freethinkers. This consideration makes me 
resolve to spare no labour, nor any charge, to have all the books 
that our own country, and even foreign countries, can afford to 
me. I have advanced fifty pounds to an able foreigner, to go to 
Paris, and to collate some manuscripts of equal, or greater anti- 
quity than our own. For I have never yet used one old book, if 
it were but of twenty scattered sheets, that I did not get 



I96 NOTES. 

something particular by it. It is odd and pleasant, to see how the 
readings lie scattered through the copies. There shall be three 
true readings against the present Pope's text, within the compass 
of three verses, and these shall be fetched out of three several 
manuscripts ; what hits in one failing in the other two. There- 
fore I am encouraged by success; all that I meet with help some- 
what. Give me then number enough, and I am sure all will ex- 
actly tally. And for this reason, I must intreat you to send me 
down those other manuscripts, that contain the A<5ts and the 
Epistles, though they do not reach to the age desired; I mean 
those, which you take to be the best of them, and which are in 
square, rather than in oblong volumes, caeteris paribus. It is but 
a small addition of carrier's charge, and I am glad to pay it, both 
hither, and back again. I think, that I told you before, that I am 
comparatively poor in the Acts and the Epistles, which makes me 
send for help out of France. I have but two copies that reach 800 
years, and these do not always come up to that which I seek for. 
But what is odd, junior books supply that sometimes, which the 
ancient ones fail in. 

Colossians ii. 4. Hoc autem dico ut nemo nos decipiat en 
pithanologia in sublimitate sermonum. For so the Popes, so the 
former editions, so both my old manuscripts read. And yet it is 
plain, that nobody could so translate it. Sublimitas sermonum is 
upsilogia, or meteorologia, never pithanologia. 1 soon guessed it 
to be an error of the Scribes, for subtilitate sermonum. For thus 
the old glossaries at Paris, printed by Stephens, from a copy of a 
thousand years of age, subtilitate pithanologia; and in Gloss. 
Graecolat. peithanologia, subtilitas verborum. 

But after this, I found in four manuscripts, of the king's library, 
not one of which is above 600 years old, subtilitate verborum, from 
the very first hand. This I also impute to some useful criticks in 
the western countries, about 700 years ago, who then collated the 
present manuscripts of the bible with the oldest copies then extant, 
and rectified the innovations : These emendations they published, 
under the title of Corredlorium Biblise, n^ of which have been 



NOTES. 197 

yet printed, but quoted occasionally by Zergerus and Lucas. I 
shall get transcripts of them from abroad. If you meet with any 
such in your library, they make but few sheets, I pray that you 
would communicate them to me. This I say is the reason why a 
true reading shall be in a manuscript of 600, that is now wanting 
in those of now a thousand years of age. Because these cor- 
rectors, 700 years ago, had still older books, and the following 
transcribers, if learned, adjusted their copies, according to their 
directions. Of your two old books I shall give, as of all the rest, 
which are a thousand years old, a specimen of the writing in a 
copper-plate, that posterity may see, what good authorities I fol- 
low. I wish that you would look, what comments of Bede, or of 
the other tradtators, Austin, Ambrose, &c you have, of a compe- 
tent age; for I shall give you the trouble to examine particular 
places therein, when I begin to build ; for, at present, I am but 
digging my stones out of the quarries. 

I am glad, that your son put it into my power to oblige you; 
and that I shall more rejoice, if he gives me a farther occasion to 
show, that I am, 

Sir, 

Your obliged, humble servant, 

RICHARD BENTLEY. 



My service and thanks to Mr. Dean*. 



* Dr. Montague, Dean of Durham 



198 



APPENDIX, No. IV. 



THE BUCHANSHIRE TRAGEDY; OR, SIR JAMES 
THE ROSS. 



AN HISTORICAL BALLAD. 

Tune, GUI Morice. 

Of all the Scottish Northern chiefs^ 

Of high and warlike name, 
The bravest was Sir James the Ross, 

A knight of meikle fame. 

His growth was as the tufted firr, 
That crowns the mountain's brow ; 

And waving o'er his shoulders broad, 
His locks of yellow flew. 

The chieftain of that brave clan, Ross, 

A firm undaunted band ; 
Five hundred warriors drew the sword, 

Beneath his high command : 

In bloody fight thrice has he stood, 

Against the English keen, 
Ere two and twenty opening springs 

This blooming youth bad seen. 



i 9 9 



The fair Matilda, dear he lov'd, 

A maid of beauty rare ; 
Even Margaret on the Scottish throne, 

Was never half so fair. 

Lang had he woo'd, lang she refus'd, 
With seeming scorn and pride, 

Yet aft her eyes confess'd the love 
Her fearful words deny'd. 

At last, she bless'd his well-try 'd faith, 

Allow'd his tender claim ; 
She vow'd to him her virgin heart, 

And own'd an equal flame ; 

Her father, Buchan's cruel Lord, 

Their passion disapprove, 
And bid her wed Sir John the Grsme, 

And leave the youth she lov'd. 

Ae night they met, as they were wont 

Deep in a shady wood ; 
Where on a bank beside the burn, 

A blooming saugh-tree stood. 

Concealed among the under-wood, 

The crafty Donald lay, 
The brother of Sir John the Graeme, 

To hear what they might say. 

When thus the maid began : My sire 

Your passion disapproves ; 
And bids me wed Sir John the Graeme, 

So here must end our loves : 



NOTES. 

My father's will must be obey d, 
Nought boots me to withstand, 

Some fairer maid in beauty's bloom, 
Shall bless thee with her hand. 

Matilda soon shall be forgot, 

And from thy mind defac'd, 
But may that happiness be thine, 

Which I can never taste. 

What do I hear ? Is this thy vow, 

Sir James the Ross reply'd : 
And will Matilda wed the Graeme, 

Though sworn to be my bride. 

His sword shall sooner pierce my heart, 

Than reave me of thy charms, 
Then clasp'd her to his beating breast, 

Fast lock'd into his arms. 

1 speak to try thy love, she said, 

I'll ne'er wed man but thee ; 
My grave shall be my bridal-bed, 

Ere Graeme my husband be. 

Take then, dear youth, this faithful kiss, 

In witness of my troth, 
And every pledge become my lot, 

That day I break my oath. 

They parted thus, the sun was set, 

Up hasty Donald flies, 
Come, turn thee, turn thee, beardless youth, 

He, loud insulting, cries. 



NOTES. 

Soon turn'd about the fearless chief, 

And soon his sword he drew, 
For Donald's blade before his breast, 

Had pierc'd his tartans through : 

This for my brother's slighted love, 

His wrongs sit on my arm. 
Three paces back the youth retir'd, 

And sav'd himself from harm. 

Returning swift his hand he rear'd, 

From Donald's head above, 
And through the brain and crashing bones, 

His sharp-edg'd weapon drove. 

He stagg'ring reel'd, then tumbled down, 

A lump of breathless clay, 
So fall my foes, quoth valiant Ross, 

And stately strode away. 

Through the green wood he quickly hy'd- 

Unto Lord Buchan's hall, 
And at Matilda's window stood, 

And thus began to call : 

Art thou asleep, Matilda dear, 

Awake, my love, awake, 
Thy luckless lover calls on thee, 

A long farewell to take, 

For I have slain fierce Donald Graeme, 

His blood is on my sword, 
And distant are my faithful men, 

That should assist their Lord. 
Dd 



202 



To Sky I'll now direct my way, 
Where my brave brothers bide, 

And raise the valiant of the Isles, 
To combat on my side. 

do not so the maid replies, 
With me till morning stay, 

For dark and dreary is the night, 
And dangerous the way. 

All night I'll watch thee in the park, 

My faithful page Til send, 
To run and raise the Ross's clan, 

Their master to defend. 

Beneath a bush he laid him down, 
And wrapt him in his plaid, 

While trembling for her lover's fate, 
At distance stood the maid. 

Swift ran the page o'er hill and dale, 

Till in a lonely glen 
He met the furious Sir John Graeme, 

With twenty of his men. 

Where goest thou, little page, he said, 
So late, who did thee send ? 

1 go to raise the Ross's clan, 

Their master to defend. 

For he hath slain fierce Donald Graeme, 

His blood is on his sword, 
And far, far distant are his men 

That should assist their Lord, 



ao3 



And has he slain my brother dear ? 

The furious Graeme replies ; 
Dishonour blast my name ! but he 

By me ere morning dies. 

Tell me whercis Sir James the Ross, 

I will thee well reward; 
He sleeps into Lord Buchan's park, 

Matilda is his guard. 

They spurr'd their steeds in furious mood, 

And scour'd along the lee, 
They reach'd Lord Buchan's lofty towers, 
, By dawning of the day. 

Matilda stood without the gate, 
To whom thus Orseme did say, 

Saw ye Sir James the Ross last night, 
Or did he pass this way ? 

Last day at noon, Matilda said, 

Sir James the Ross pass'd by, 
He, furious, prick'd his sweaty steed, 

And onward fast did hy ; 

By this he is at Edinburgh town, 

If horse and man hold good. 
Your page then lied, who said he was 

Now sleeping in the wood. 

She wrung her hands and tore her hair, 
Brave Ross thou art betray 'd ; 

And ruin'd by those means, she cried, 
From whence I hop'd thine aid. 



304 "NOTES. 

By this the valiant knight awak'd, 

This virgin's cry he heard ; 
And up he rose and drew his sword, 

When the fierce band appear'd. 

Your sword last night my brother slew, 
His blood yet dims its shine ; 

And ere the rising of the sun, 
Your blood shall reek on mine. 

You word it well, the chief return'd, 

But deeds approve the man, 
Set by your men, and hand to hand, 

We'll try what valour can : 

Oft boasting hides a coward's heart, 
My weighty sword you fear, 

Which shone in front, in Floddon Field, 
When you kept in the rear. 

With dauntless step he forward strode, 

And dar'd him to the fight, 
Then Graeme gave back and fear'd his arm, 

For well he knew its might. 

Four of his men, the bravest four, 
Sunk down beneath his sword, 

But still he scorn'd the poor revenge, 
And sought their haughty Lord. 

Behind him basely came the Graeme, 
And wounded him in the side. 

Out spouting came the purple gore, 
And all his tartans dy'd. 



*35 



But yet his sword quitted not the gripe, 

Nor dropt he to the ground ; 
Till through his enemy's heart his steel 

Had forc'd a mortal wound. 

Graeme like a tree with wind overthrown, 

Fell breathless on the clay ; 
And down beside him sunk the Ross, 

And fainting, dying lay. 

The sad Matilda saw him fall, 

spare his life she cry'd, 

Lord Buchan's daughter begs his life, 
Let her not be deny'd. 

Her well-known voice the hero heard, 
He rais'd his death-clos'd eyes, 

And fix'd them on the weeping maid, 
And weakly thus replies ; 

In vain Matilda begs the life, 

By death's arrest deny'd, 
My race is run— adieu, my love ! 

Then clos'd his eyes and dy'd. 

The sword yet warm from his left side, 

With frantic hand she drew, 
I come, Sir James the Ross, she cry'd, 

1 come to follow you. 

She lean'd the hilt against the ground, 

And bar'd her snowy breast, 
Then fell upon her lover's sword, 

And sunk to endless rest. 



206 



Then by this fatal tragedy, 
Let parents warning take; 

And ne'er entice their children dear, 
Their secret vows to break. 



toy 



APPENDIX, No. V. 



AN OLD SCOTCH SONG ON THE BATTLE OF 
FLODDON, FOUGHT A. 1513. 

1 have heard of a lilting, at our ewes' milking, 

Lasses a lilting, before the break of day ; 
But now there's a moaning, on ilka green loaning, 

That our braw forresters are a' wede away. 

At boughts, in the morning, nae blyth lads are scorning ; 

The lasses are lonely, dowie, and wae ; 
Nae daffin, nae gabbin, but sighing and sabbing, 

Ilka ane lifts her leglen, and hies her away. 

At e'en at the gloming, nae swankies are roaming, 
'Mong stacks, with the lasses, at bogle to play ; 

But ilka ane sits dreary, lamenting her deary, 
The Flowers of the Forest that are a' wede away. 

At harrest, at the shearing, nae youngsters a-re jeering^ 

The bansters are runkled, lyart, and grey. 
At a fair, or a preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching, 

Since our braw forresters are a' wede away. 

O dool for the order, sent our lads to the border : 
The English for anes by guile gat the day. 

The Flowers of the Forest, that ay shone the foremost, 
The prime of our land, lies cauld in the clay. 



208 NOTES. 

We'll hear nae mair lilting, at our ewes' milking, 
The women and bairns are dowie, and wae. 

Sighing and moaning, on ilka green loaning, 
Since our braw forresters are a' wede away. 



AN EXPLANATION OF THE SCOTCH WORDS. 

Line I. Lilting; singing in a brisk lively manner. 

Line 3. Ilka ; every. 

Line 3. Loaning ; a little oemmon near country villages , where cows 
are milked. 

Line 4. Braw ; brave, finely apparelled. 

Line 4. A' wede ; all cut away, Shakespeare, Richard III. A 
weeder out of his proud adversaries. 

Line 5. Bought ; the little fold, where the ewes are inclosed at milk- 
ing time. 

Line 5. Scorning ; jeering the losses about their sweethearts. To 
scorn is often now used in this sense in the North. 

Line 6. Dowie ; melancholy. Wae ; sorrowful. 

Line 7. Daffin; waggery. Gabbing; prating pertly. Sabbing; 
sobbing. 

Line 8. Ilka ane ; every one. Leglen ; a milking-pail, with one 
lug or handle. The hasty, silent, and disconsolate departure of the 
milk-maids, is natural and affecting. 

Line 9. doming ; at even, in the twilight, or evening gloom. 

Line 9. Swankies; young countrymen. This is an old English 
word, derived from the Saxon swang, a country swain. 

Line 10. Bogle ; hobgoblin, speclre. Bogle bo about the stack, is 
th£ diversion of young folks in a stack-yard. / 

Line 11. Dreary; «k/. 



notes. 209 

Line 14. Bansters; binders up of the sheaves of corn. Runkled ; 
wrinkled. Lyart ; hoary. The binders were now all old men. 

Line 15. Fleeching ; flattering. 

Line 17. Dool; grief 

Line 18. Vide stanza 473, et seq. 

Line 19. Ay ; ever, always. 

Line 20. Cauld ; cold. There was hardly a genteel family in 
Scotland, but what lost one or more of their nearest relations in 
this battle. 

Line 22. Bairns ; children. The tune to this song, called, ' The 
Flowers of the Forest/ is a pretty, melancholy one. 



e e 



310 



APPENDIX, No. VI. 

THE BATAILE OF BRANXTON, OR FLODDON- 
FIELD ; 

Faught in the yeare of our Redeemer 1513, and in the 5th yeare 
of the reign of that victorious Prince, King Henry the 
Eyght. 

[Copied from an edition of " The Mir r our for Magistrates" printed 
in 1587.] 

O Rex Regum in thy realme Celestiall, 

Glorified with joies of Gabriel's company, 
King James is dead, have mercy on us all, 

For thou haste him prostrate so suddenly, 

(Which was our noble Prince his enemy) 
That us to withstand he had no might : 
So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde King Henry's right. 

Into England this Prince prowdly did come, 

With fourscore thousand in goodly aray: 
And the castle of Norham first he had won, 

Prospering victoriously from day to day ; 

But against him is gone the Earle of Surrey 
With him manfully for to fight, 
By the helpe of God, and in his Prince's right. 

This noble Earle full wisely hath wrought, 

And with thirty thousande forwarde is gone ; 
After wisedome and policy wondrously hee sought, 



211 



How by the Scottish ordinaunce he might well come, 

Thereto helped well Bastard Heyron, 
On the Scots he did harme both day and night, 
So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince's right. 

Our Herald of Armes to King Jemy did say : 
My Lord of Surrey greetes you well by mee, 

Marvailing greatly of this your aray, 
And what you make here in this countrey, 
Peace you have broken and old amity ; 

Wherefore if yee abide he will with you fight, 

By the helpe of God, and in his Prince's right. 

Abide ? (he sayde) els were it great dishonoure hye, 
That a King crowned an Earle durst not abide : 

Yf Surrey bee so bolde to gieve battayle to mee, 
I shall him tarry on Floddon-hill side ; 
Open warre then soon was there cryde, 

And our doughty men were readily dight, 

By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

St. Cuthberd's banner with the Byshop's men bolde, 

In the vauntgard forwarde fast did hye, 
That Royal Relyke more precious than golde, 

And Sir William Bowmer nere stood it by, 

Adjura Pater, then fast did they cry, 
Pray wee that God will graunt us his might, 
That wee may have the powre to save our Prince's right. 

The Lord Clifford and the Lord Latimer also, 
With the Lord Coniers of the north countrey, 

And the Lord Scroope of Upsalle, forward did goe, 
With the Lord Howarde Admirall of the see, 
Of noble hearte and courage goode was hee, 



212 



As any went that time agaynst the Scots to fight, 
By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

Sir William Percy and Lord Ogle both same, 
And Sir William Gascoyne theyr cosyn nere was hee, 

The Shryve of Yorkshire Sir John Everinghame, 
And the nobles of Cheshyre in theyr degree, 
The Lord Dacres and Bastard Heyron with hearte free, 

Which harme the Scots by day and by night, 

By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

Sir Edmond Haward of lusty franke courage 
Boldly advaunced himselfe eke in that stounde, 

To the Scots our enemies he did great hurte and damage 
Which were right greedy him and his blood to confound, 
But theyr mischievous intent on themselves did rebound, 

And many a deadly stroke on them there did light, 

So the helpe of God preservde our Prince's right. 

The Baron of Killerton and both Astones were there, 
With Sir John Booth, and many knights moe, 

Sir John Gower and Sir Walter Griffin drewe nere, 
With Sir Thomas Butler and Maister Warcop also, 
Sir Christopher Warde and Sir Wm. Midylton both two, 

And Sir William Maliver all did manly fight 

By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

In the mydle warde was the Earle of Surrey, 

That noble man, stoute, bolde, and hardy, 
The father of wit wee call him may, 

The Deputy of England most truly was he 

With him Lord Scroope of Bolton and Sir George Darcye, 
And Sir Richard Maliver with Buck's heades bright, 
By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 



213 



Sir Philip Tylncy was there ready and prest, 
In the same warde with all his mighty powre, 

And Sir John Willowghby as ready as the best, 
With Sir Nicholas Aplyard his helpe, ayde, and succour. 
O what joy was it to see that same howre, 

How valiauntly our noblemen with the Scots did fight, 

By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

Yong Sir William Gascoyne was there indede, 
With Sir Richard Aldburgh and Sir Christofer Danebe, 

Sir William Scarkell, and M. Frost's helpe at nede, 
With Sir Ralph Ellarkar and M. Thomas Lee, 
M. Raphe Beeston and M. Hopton men might see, 

Full well, perdy, they quite themselves in that fight, 

By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

Sir Edward Stanley in the rerewarde was hee, 

A noble knight both wise and hardy, 
With many a nobleman of the West Countrey, 

And the whole powre of the Earle of Darby, 

With a right retinue of the Byshop Elye, 
And of Lankffshire men, manly did fight 
By the helpe of God, and in theyr Prince's right. 

Soone then the gunnes began a new play, 

And the vaunt-garde together are gone ; 
But our gunnes dissevered them out of aray, 

And our bolde bilmen of them slewe many a one, 

So that of them scarce returned none, 
Thus were they punished by helpe of God Almight, 
So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince's right. 

Then they sought embushments, but with small cherc, 
And in fowle manner brake theyr aray, 



214 



Yet some of our men by policy fled »vere, 
That sawe King Jeray on the hill where he lay, 
They flee (hee sayes) folow fast I you pray : 
But by that fit of flying, wee wan the fight, 
So the helpe of God preservde our Prince's right. 

To the Earle of Surrey King Jemy is gone 

With as comely a company as ever man did see, 

Full boldly their big men against us did come, 
Down the hill, with great mirth and melody : 
And our men marked them to the Trinity, 

Beseeching him there to shew his might, 

In theyr whole defence, and in theyr Prince's right. 

The Red Lyon, with his owne father's bloud inclynate 
Came towards the White Lyon both meeke and mylde, 

And there, by the hand of God he was prostrate, 
By the helpe of th* Eagle with her swadled Chylde, 
The Buckesheads also the Scots has beguilde, 

And with theyr gray goose wings doulfully them dight, 

By the helpe of God, and in our Prince's right. 

The Moone that day did shine full bright, 
And the Luce-head that day was full bent, 

The Red Cressent did blinde the Scots sight, 
And the ship with her ancre many Scots spent, 
But (alas) the good White Griffin was felde on Floddon-hill, 

Yet escape he did, not vanquisht in the fight, 

So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince's right. 

The Treyfell was true, and that did well appeare, 
And boldly the Great Griffin up the hill is gone, 

The antlet did lace them with arrows so neare, 
That buffits the Scots bare, they lacked none, 



«5 



The Cinquefoile also was stedfast as the stone, 
And slewe of the Scots like a worthy wight, 
So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince's right. 

The yong White Lyon was angry in that stounde, 
And with his merry mariners the myrth him made, 

His bells rang lay couched in the grounde, 
Whereof the Scots were right sore affrayde, 
And round about rydeing evermore he sayde, 

Go to my fellowes, all shall be all or night, 

By the helpe of God we save our Prince's right. 

The Cornish Choughe did pick them in the face, 
And the crab them blinded that they might not see, 

They flew and fell, they had no other grace, 
With theyr new conquerour : but where now is hee ? 
Caryed in a cart, to his rebuke and his posterity, 

And his bullies so bonnye are all put to flight, 

So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince's right. 

Of Scots lay slayne full twelve thousande, 
And eleven Earles, the sooth for to say, 

Thirteen Lordes, and three Byshops as I understand, 
With two Abbots, which have learnde a new play, 
They should have bene at home for peace to pray : 

Wherefore they were thus wise punished by right, 

So thy helpe, O Lord, preservde our Prince his right. 

Theyr ordinaunce is lost, and theyr royalty, 
We have theyr riches, God have the prayseing, 

What ech man would take, he had his liberty. 
Wherefore laude and honour to such a King, 
From doulfull daunger us so defending : 

He has graunted unto us now his might, 

And by his only ayde preservde our Prince's right. 



2l6 



O Rex Regum, Ruler of us all, 
As thou for us sufferedst thy passion, 

Gieve the Scots grace, by King Jemye's fall, 
For to eschue ever like transgression, 
Preserve the Red Rose, and be his protection. 

Laude, honoure, prayse be unto God Almight, 

Who thus suppreste our foes, preservde our Prince's right, 

yee noble Lordes, and Knights vidtorius, 
I you beseech to have me excused, 

Your noble acts no better that I discusse, 
And that my simple saying be not refused, 
Wherein any thing I have me missused, 

1 mee submit to your charitable correction : 
And in this manner shall be my conclusion. 

Qd. FRAUNCIS DINGLEY. 
Finis. 



Red Lion. The King of Scots. 
White Lion. The Earl of Surrey. 
Young White Lion. The Lord Admiral. 
The Moon. Percy. 
The Red Crescent. Lord Ogle. 
The Luce. Sir William Gascoign. 
The Cinquefoil. Sir George Darcy. 
Eagle and Child. Sir Edward Stanley. 



217 



APPENDIX, No. VII. 



SKELTON, LAUREATE, AGAINST THE SCOTTES. 

Against the proud Scottes' clattering 
That never wyll leave theyr tratlyng, 
Wan they the felde, and lost their kynge, 
They may wel say, Fye on that winning ! 

Lo, these fond sottes and tratlyng Scottes, 
How they are blind in their own minde, 
And will not know their overthrow 
At Branxton More, they are so stowre, 
So frantike mad. They say they had 
And wan the felde, with speare and shield ; 
That is as trew, as blacke is blew 
And grene is gray. Whatever they say, 
Jemmy is dead and closed in leade, 
That was theyr own kynge. Fye on that winning ! 

At Floddon-hilles our bowes our bylles 
Slewe all the floure of theyr honoure. 
Are not these Scottes foles and sottes 
Such boste to make, to prate and crake, 
To face, to brace, all voyd of grace ? 
So proud of heart, so overthwart, 
So out of frame, so voyd of shame, 
As it is enrold, wrytten, and told, 
Within this quaire ? Who list to repair 
And therein reed, shall finde, in deed, 
Ff 



318 



A mad rekening, considering all thing 

That the Scottes may sin. Fye on the winning ! 

* When the Scotte lyved. 

Joly Jemmy, ye scorneful Scotte, 
Is it come unto your lot 
A solempne summer for to be ? 
It greeth nought for your degree 
Our kyng of England for to fight 
Your Soveraine Lord, our Prince of might 
Ye for to send such a citacion ! 
It shameth al your noughty nacion 
In comparison, but king Koppyng 
Unto our Prince, anointed kyng 
Ye play Hop Lobbyn of Lowdean 
Ye shew ryght wel, what good ye can, 
Ye may be Lord of Locrian 
Christ sence you with a frying pan 
Of Edingborrow, and SaincSte Jonis Towne. 
Adieu ! Syr Sommer, cast off your crowne. 

When the Scotte was slayne. 

Continually I shall remember 
The mery moneth of September 
With the eleventh day of the same, 
For than began our mirth and game. 
So that now I have devised 
And in my minde I have comprised, 
Of the proude Scotte, Kyng Jemmy, 
To write some little tragedy, 
For no manner consideration 
Of any sorowful lamentation, 
But for the special consolacion 
Of al our Royal Erglysh nacion, 
Melpomene, O muse tragedial, 



219 



Unto your grace, for grace now I call 

To guyde my pen and my pen to enbibe, 

Illumine me, your poet and your scribe, 

That with mixture of aloes and bitter gall 

I may compounde, confedlures for accordial 

To angre the Scottes and Irish kiteringes withal 

That late were discomfect, with battaile marcial. 

Thalia, my muse, for you also cal I 

To touche them with tauntes of your armory, 

A medley to make of mirth with sadnes 

The hartes of England to comfort with gladnes. 

And now to begyn, I will me adres 

To your rehersying, the somme of my proces. 

Kynge Jamy, Jemmy, Jocky my jo 
Summoned our kyng. Why did ye so ? 
To you, nothing it did accord 
To summon our kynge, your Soveraine Lorde, 
A kynge, a summer, it was great wonder, 
Know ye not suger and salt asonder ? 
Your summer too saucye, too malapert 
Your harrold in armes, not yet half expert, 
Ye thought ye did yet valiantlye, 
Not worth three skippes of a pye, 
Syr Skyr Galyard, ye were so skit 
Your wil than ran before your wyt. 

Your lege ye layd, and your aly 
Your franticke fable not worth a fly, 
Frenche Kynge, or one or other 
Regarded you shold your Lord your brother, 
Trowed ye Sir Jemy his nobel Grace 
From you Sir Scotte, wold tourne his face 
With gup Sir Scotte of Galawey 
Now is your bride fall to decay. 



220 NOTES. 

Male brid was your fals entent 

For to offende your President, 

Your Soveraigne Lord most reverente, 

Your Lord, your brother, and your regent. 

In him is figured Melchisedecke, 

And ye were disloyal Amalecke. 

He is our noble Scipione, 

Annoynted kynge, and ye were none. 

Thoughe ye untrulye your father have slayne 

His tytle is true, in Fraunce to raygne. 

And ye proude Scot, Dunde, Dunbar 

Pardy ye were his homager 

And suter to his parliament 

For your untruthe, nowe are ye shent 

Ye bare yourself somewhat to bold, 

Therefore ye lost your copyhold 

Ye were bonde tenant to his estate 

Lost is your game, ye are checke mate. 

Unto the castell of Norram 
1 understande too sone ye came, 
At Branxton-more and Floddon-hilles, 
Our English bowes our English bylles 
Against you gave so sharpe a shower, 
That of Scotland ye lost the flower. 
The White Lyon, there rampante of moode 
He raged and rente out your harte bloude, 
He the White, and you the Red ; 
The White there slew the Red starke ded. 
Thus for your Guerdon quyt are ye, 
Thanked be God in Trinite 
And swete Sain<fte George, our Ladyes knyght, 
Your eye is oute, adewe, good nyghte. 
Ye were starke mad to make a fray, 
His Grace beyng out of the way, 



2ZI 



But by the power and might of God 

For your tayle ye made a rod. 

Ye wanted wit, Sir, at a worde, 

Ye lost your spurs, ye lost your sworde, 

Ye might have busked you to Huntley bankes, 

Your pryde was pevysh to play such prankes ; 

Your poverte could not attayne 

With our kyng royal, war to maintaine. 

Of the kyng of Naverne ye might take heed, 
Ungraciously howe he doth speede, 
An double dealynge, so he did dreame 
That he is kynge without a keame ; 
And for exaumple, he would none take, 
Experiens hath brought you in such a brake 
Your wealthe, your joye, your sport, your play, 
Your braggyng bost, your royal aray, 
Your beard so brym, as bore at baye, 
Your seven sisters, that gun so gaye 
All have ye lost, ana caste awaye. 
Thus Fortune hath turned you, I dare well saye 
Now from a kyng to a clot of clay, 
Oute of robes ye were shaked, 
And wretchedly ye lay, starke all naked ; 
For lacke of grace, harde was your hap, 
The Popes cures gave you that clap. 

Of the out yles, the rough-foted Scottes 
We have well eased them of the bottes, 
The rude rancke Scottes, lyke droncken dranes 
At Englysh bowes have fetched their banes ; 
It is not sitting in tower or towne 
A summer to were a kynge 's crowne. 
Fortune on you therefore did frownc, 
Ye were to hye, ye are cast downe. 



22Z 



Syr Summer, now, where is your crowne ? 
Cast of your crowne, cast up your crowne, 
Syr Summer, now, ye have lost your crowne. 



Quod SKELTON, Laureate, 
Oratour to the Kynges most royal estate. 



9*3 



APPENDIX, No. VIII. 

The following Extract is taken from a Book, intituled, * The 
Flower of Fame', written by Ulpian Fulwell, and dedicated to 
Sir William Cecil, Baron of Burghleygh, &c. It is printed in 
quarto, in the old black letter, at London, A. 1575. 

He is quoted by Speed, Edward VI. Section 61. Hence Wood, 
who had never seen this book, concludes that Fulwell had 
printed some other tracts, besides those which he mentions in 
his Athen. Oxon. v. 1. No. 266. 

Between the fourth and fifth stanzas, there is, in the original, a 
wooden cut, representing Death, running to seize a crown upon 
the head of a king, A. D. 1513. 

AVhile the king was in Fraunce, King James, of Scotlande, 
(notwithstanding his league and solempne vowe before mencion- 
ed) made an invasion uppon the borderers adjoyning unto Scot- 
lande. And sent an Ambassadour unto the King into Fraunce, 
accusing the borderers for breache of the truce betweene them 
taken. When the King understoode by the Ambassadoure of the 
King of Scottes' pretence : He rewarded thef*Ambassadoure, and 
so dismissed him. 

Nowe the king of Scottes supposed that all the power of Eng- 
lande was in Fraunce with King Henry : knowing also that King 
Henry could not, nor woulde not breake up his campe to come 
against him. And thought that nowe he had a plaine gappe 
opened unto him, to enter into Englande, and there to woorke 
his will. But by the providence of the queene, who was left 
regent of the realme by the king at his setting foorth, and by the 
valyanties of the Earle of Surrey, the Kinge's Lieftenaunt, he was 



224 NOTES. 

prevented of his purpose. For when he thought to have entered 
this realme with all his power, he was mett by the Earle of Sur- 
rey at a place called Brampston, where betweene them was fought 
a cruell battayle, not without great effusion of blood on both par- 
ties : but iu the ende (by God's providence) the vidtorie fell unto 
the English men. The King of Scottes himselfe being slain in this 
fielde with eleven of his noble men, being all of them Earles, be- 
sydes a number of his knyghtes and gentilmen of name, and his 
whole power made very weak. Tbis battayle being ended to the 
renoune of the Quecne, the Earle, the Kinge's Lieftenaunt, and 
the whole realme : The dead bodye of the King of Scottes was 
founde among the other carcases in the fielde, and from thence 
brought to London, and so through London streetes on a horse- 
backe,— and from thence it was carried to Sheene (neere unto 
Brainford) whereas the Queene then laye. And theare this per- 
iured carcas lyeth unto this daye unburied. A condigne ende, and 
a meete sepulker for such a forsworn prince. This shameful ende 
of the Scottish king, kindled the fyer of malyce in the breastes of 
the Scottes, the flame whereof (in the ende) consumed also their 
yong king that then was lefte unto them, as followinge you may 
reade. But first I have taken upon mee to introduce King James 
unto thee, in forme of the Mirror of Magestrates, to vtter hi* 
complaynt and tell his owne tale as followeth. 



NOTES. %%$ 



THE LAMENTABLE COMPLAINT OF KING JAMES 
OF SCOTLAND, 

Who was slayne at Scottish Fielde* Anno 15 13. 

Among the rest, whom rewful fate hath reft, 
Whose shrouding sheetes hath wrapt their wofull lyves, 

Why have not I a place among them left, 
Whose fall eche tong with dayly talk reuyues I 
Such is the wheele that froward Fortune dryues, 

To-day a king of puissance and might, 

And in one howre a wofull wretched wight. 

A happie life by happie end is tried, 

A wretched race by wofull ende is known : 
Though pleasant wind the ship do rightly guyd, 

At last by rage of stormes 'tis overthrowne. 

The greatest oke by tempest is fyrst blown e. 
Though fortune seeme a loft to hoyse thy sayle, 
Yet fortune ofte tymes smyles to small auaile. 

I thought my bower buylt on happie soyle, 
Which under propped was with tickle staye : 

Wherefore on sodayne chaunce I tooke the foylc 
In hope for to haue had a noble praye. 
In search whereof I reapt my fatall daye, 

With shamefull death my fame was fordte to bow 

A gwerdon meete for breach of sacred vow. 

A prince his promise ought not to be broke, 
Much more his othe of ryght obserued should be; 

But greedy gayne doth ofte the mynde provoke, 
To breake both othe and vowe, as seemes by mee. 



i%6 



Ambition blearde mync eyes I coulde not see. 
I find, though man with man his faith forgoe, 
Yet man with God may not do so. 

I was a king, my power was not small, 
I ware the crowne to wield the Scottish land : 

I raignde and rewlde, the greater was my fall, 
The myght of God, no kingdome can withstand, 
An Earle wan of mee the upper hande. 

With blodie sworde my lucklesse lyfe to ende, 

By shameful! death without tyme to amende. 

Such was the force of Atrops cruell spight, 
Unlooked for to cut my fatal lyne. 

My wretched carcas then was brought in sight 
Through London streats, whereat the Scots repine 
The endless shame of this mishap is myne. 

Like butchers ware, on horsebacke was I brought, 

The King of kinges for me this end hath wrought. 

Let Princes all by me example take, 
What daunger 'tis to dally in such cace : 

By periurie their faythes for to forsake, 
Least seate of shame shall be their endles place, 
Foule infamie shall their renoune deface : 

Of falsed faith such is deserved hyre, 

And he must falle that will too hyghe aspyre. 



Ye noble peeres whose lyues with myne did end, 
Send forth from graues your griesly ghosts ech one 

To wayle the chaunce that Fortune vs did sende. 
Let all the Scots powre out their plaints and mone 
That we to hedles haste were apt and prone. 

Which rash beginning voyde of godly awe, 

Had lyke successe for breach of sacred lawe.- 



2ZJ 



I thought that Englande had beene far too weake, 
For my strong power when Henry was away : 

Which made mee light regarde my vow to breake, 
But yet I founde they were left in good stay, 
With force and strength to purchase my decay. 

Thus my aspiring minde had guerdon due, 

Which may a mirror bee for men to vewe. 

Whereby to shun the breache of sacred vow, 
And not to seeke by lawless means to rayne ; 

For right will force usurped rule to bow, 
And reap repulst in steade of noble gaine ; 
Thus truthe in tyme doth turne her foe to paine. 

And God himselfe doth shield the rightful cause, 

Then let men learne to lyue within his lawes. 



The three above Copies, from the Mirrour of Magistrates, Skel- 
ton, and Fulwell, I received from three ingenious gentlemen of 
Newcastle. 



FINIS. 



Printed by S. Hodgson, 
Union-street, Newcastle, 



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